1 

y 

H 

iiPi 

iii 

h 

1 

J 

ttm 

lull 

1 
'II 

III 

VU 

in  liiii'  'iiHo 

! 

I 

mil  imi"" 

HDI 

ffli 

F 

15  li 

iiiiiiiij 

iiwiiiiii!:''.!!;'! 

1" 

pilJi 

Em 

■iiiiiif 

If 

ij|jpi{iiij 

iiifi 

iiii 

m 

II,: 

liPl 

"liil 

H 

DtJiini 

1  .™ipi 

m 

mifiiynti 1 

m 

g_ 

■ 

m 

II 

il|i 

'''i  Hi 

illlillLJ|H 

i 

nip 

B 
III 


-/J 


/' 


]f 


/ 


; 


I 


£^3-^^-2^s^— 


V 


\- 


LETTERS  TO  A  KING 


BY 

ALBION  W.  TOURGEE,  LL.  D., 

AUTHOR  OF    "A  FOOI^'S  ERRAND,''    "AN  APPEAL  TO  C^SAR,"  ETC. 


Where  the  word  of  a  king  is,  there  is  power. 

— ECCL.   VIII,  4. 


CINCINNATI : 

CRANSTON    &    STONAi^K. 

NEW  YORK: 

PHILLIPS  &  HUNT. 

1888. 


Copyrighted,   18S7, 

by 
E.   K.   TOURGEE. 


*      *. 

^1 

ft 

i 

«. 

4 

•■  « 

« 

a 

ft         • 

I    t   t 

C 

4 

t 

• 

• 

ft       • 

•     ft    •• 

1      <    i 

s 

C          • 

c 

4 

4 

t         , 

» 

• 

■ 

ft     ft 

•     ft  ft  • 

1     i 

4 

4           C 

4 

4 

' 

4 

lit 
*     4 

4           1 

• 

• 
• 

• 
• 

• 

•  ft 

• 

*     *  *    ft 

«   4. 

t           1 

<■ 

t. 

[   *' 

_' 

,' 

4 

.4   4 

4 
4     * 

•     • 

ft 

•• 

•  •  • 
ft 

ft 
•   • 

t  * 

^    * 

*               4 

t. 

4. 

1. 

4 

*     4 

4        « 

.* 

• 

ft 
• 

ft 

•     • 

l           * 

« 

4 

^*      » 

• 

ft 

•  •  • 

C   1 

t. 

4    4 

4 

tit* 

1 

e 

' 

4    « 

•  • 

ft  ft 

ft 

ft         • 

c 
4. 

4 

4 
4 

* 
1     ft 

*   *• 

v." 

« 

« 
« 

«        C 
*        ft 

• 
• 

« 

•i' 

1. 

«       • 

• 

CO 


CO 

>• 

EC 
C33 


CM 


I 


lit 


lljose  uv*!-)©   JieJ  iijai  il^e  l^epulalic    n)i^\)l  li^e, 

YHTS  volurrja  is  inscribed, 

Ir)  ll)ei  eetpijesi  l)ape  iljat  if  rriaj    aiJ  il^err) 

Y®  etpppcoierte  Jijeip  i)epil0ae. 


462391 


P^EF^^E. 


A  LETTER  of  congratulation  addressed  to  the  son 
of  an  old  comrade,  on  his  twenty-first  birthday,  has 
grown  into  a  volume,  the  aim  of  which  is  twofold. 
It  is  designed  in  the  first  place  to  impress  upon  young 
men  that  they  are  the  recipients,  not  only  of  a 
priceless  political  inheritance,  but  of  a  commen- 
surate responsibility,  bequeathed  to  them  by  a 
generation  which  did  not  hesitate  to  shed  its  blood 
to  perpetuate  the  idea  of  "  a  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,"  on  the 
soil  of  America.  The  fact  of  individual  responsi- 
bility on  the  part  of  the  citizen  has  been  very  little 
considered,  even  by  those  who  have  dwelt  upon  the 
ethical  principles  of  our  government. 

The  doctrine  that  politics  is  the  broadest,  richest, 
and  most  important  field  of  Christian  endeavor,  will 
probably  seem  to  many  a  startling  proposition ;  but 
it  is  one  on  the  truth  of  which  the  future,  not 
only  of  republican  government,  but  of  Christian  civil- 
ization  depends.     Neither  of  these  can   be  regarded 

5 


6  PREFACE. 

as  secure  until  it  is  accepted  as  a  principle  of  Christian 
ethics  that  a  man  can  no  more  stand  idly  by  and 
see  public  evils  prevail  and  expect  to  be  held  guilt- 
less, than  if  he  were  a  willing  witness  of  his  brother's 
murder. 

From  this  principle  flows  the  other  which  this 
is  work  designed  to  set  forth, — to  wit:  that  responsi- 
bility for  political  evils  can  not  be  avoided  by  a  mere 
perfunctory  exercise  of  the  electoral  franchise.  A 
soldier  using  arms  of  precision  might  as  well  claim 
to  have  discharged  his  duty  by  merely  pulling  the 
trigger  in  the  hour  of  battle  as  a  citizen  console  him- 
self with  the  idea  that  nothing  more  is  required  of 
him  than  merely  to  cast  a  ballot.  The  soldier  who 
fails  to  take  aim,  and  thereby  make  his  shot  effective, 
is  a  coward  and  a  traitor  to  the  flag  he  pretends  to 
serve.  The  citizen  who  casts  a  ballot  at  haphazard 
is  not  a  whit  better.  The  soldier's  eye  is  trained  on 
purpose  that  he  may  take  aim  ;  the  citizen's  brain 
and  conscience  are  given  him  that  he  may  use  his 
power  to  the  best  advantage — to  secure  the  greatest 
good  of  the  greatest  number.  This  work,  therefore, 
concerns  itself  very  largely  with  political  instrumen- 
talities— the  means  by  which  the  citizen's  power  may 
be  made  effective. 

There  has  been  of  late  a  curious  tendency  among 


PREFACE.  7 

political  thinkers  to  rely  too  much  upon  mere 
mechanical  reforms.  Individual  responsibility  is  too 
often  thought  to  end  with  the  enactment  of  laws. 
It  is  very  generally  assumed  that  political  evils  may 
be  cured  by  cunningly  contrived  devices  which  shall 
trip  the  "heeler"  at  his  finest  work,  and  leave  the 
"boss"  to  gnash  his  teeth  in  impotent  rage  at  his 
inability  to  cheat  the  patent  "automatic  self-register- 
ing" ballot-boxes,  or  evade  the  rigorous  restraints  of 
the  "new,  warranted  pure  because  imported"  system 
of  State  ballot-supply  and  ticket  adjustment.  Such 
devices  are  in  the  main  merely  scarecrows,  which 
serve  to  lull  the  husbandman  to  slumber  while  the 
fowls  of  the  air  despoil  his  crop.  Good  laws  may 
arm  the  citizen  for  the  performance  of  his  duty,  but 
no  device  will  ever  be  invented  that  will  permit  him 
to  relax  his  vigilance  or  intermit  his  care.  / 

This  work  is  not  founded  upon  the  idea  that  a 
political  millennium  is  imminent  or  even  possible,  but 
is  the  outcome  of  an  irresistible  conviction  that  the 
common  sense,  intelligence,  and  conscience  of  the 
whole  people  is  a  surer  guarantee  of  good  govern- 
ment than  all  the  speculative  wisdom  of  those  who, 
falsely  claiming  to  be  "the  better  classes,"  are  not 
un frequently  the  very  worst  and  most  dangerous 
elements  of  our  society.     While   partisanship  is   set 


8  PREFACE. 

forth  as  the  very  foremost  duty  of  the  citizen,  the 
work  is  not  in  the  least  degree  intended  to  subserve 
the  interests  of  any  party.  The  principles  it  enun- 
ciates are  universal,  applying  to  one  party  as  well  as 
to  another — party  itself  being  regarded  only  as  an 
instrumentality  by  which  popular  purpose  may  be 
carried  into  effect. 

If  this  volume  shall  help  to  awaken  those  who 
may  peruse  its  pages  to  the  fact  that  self-government 
is  not  only  a  glorious  privilege  but  a  priceless  trust, 
which  it  is  the  highest  duty  of  to-day  to  transmit, 
not  merely  unimpaired,  but  greatly  strengthened  and 
improved  to-morrow;  and  if  it  shall  serve  to  make 
clear  to  any  the  fact  that  to  exercise  the  power  of 
the  citizen  is  a  personal  duty  in  the  performance  of 
which  the  individual  is  subject  always  to  the  obliga- 
tions of  Christian  morality,  the  author  will  count 
himself  well  repaid    for  the  labor  of  its  preparation. 

Thorheim,  July  4,  1888. 


eoi^TEisiTS. 


PAGE. 

"BE  A  MAN," 13 

II. 

"  LONG  LIVE  THE  KING," 24 

III. 
THE  ANTECHAMBER  TO  THE  THRONE 35 

IV. 
SHYING  AT  A  SHADOW,      45 

V. 

A  JOINT  AND'  SEVERAL  LIABILITY, 58 

VI. 

A  PERPETUAL  COVENANT, 7° 

VII. 
A  CHOICE  OF  WEAPONS, 83 

VIII. 

"KING  CAUCUS," 97 

9 


lO  CONTENTS. 

IX. 

PAGE. 

SETTING  THE  KEY-STONE, iir 

X. 

A  SHEAF  OF  FIRST-FRUITS, 125 

XI. 

THE  INVISIBLE  REPUBLIC i35 

XII. 
THE  RANK  AND  FILE MS 

XIII. 
"THE  HONOR  OF  THY  LORDLINESS," 158 

XIV. 
THE  WILL  AND  THE  WAY 172 

XV. 

PARTY  FEALTY, 183 

XVI. 
THE  "INDEPENDENT  VOTER," i95 

XVII. 
THE  PERILS  OF  REVOLT 207 

XVIII. 
THE  TRUSTEE  OF  AUTHORITY 221 


CONTENTS.  1 1 

XIX. 

PAGE. 

THE  CAPTIVE  KING 233 

XX; 

THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE, 247 

XXI. 

THE  AMENDMENT  OF  PARTY   AGENCIES 263 

XXII. 
THE  PROMULGATION  OF  THE  EDICT, 273 

XXIII. 
THE  PENALTIES  OF  MALFEASANCE, 284 

:cxiv. 

"GOOD-BYE,  JOHN," 289 


IlETTERS  TO  A  I^ING. 


"BE  A  MAN." 

MV  DEAR  JOHN: — 

This  is  your  twenty-first  birthday.  Yesterday 
you  were  an  infant ;  to-day  you  are  a  man.  I  should 
content  myself  with  formal  congratulations  upon  this 
most  notable  event  of  your  life,  were  it  not  that  the 
relations  I  once  sustained  to  your  father  may,  perhaps, 
be  thought  to  entitle  me  to  speak  somewhat  more 
familiarly  to  a  son  whom  he,  alas!  may  no  longer  in- 
struct save  by  the  influence  of  a  noble  example. 

We  were  not  only  contemporaries — your  father 
and  I — but  compatriots  as  well.  Our  entrances  upon 
the  stage  of  life  were  so  nearly  simultaneous  that  we 
may  almost  be  said  to  have  responded  to  the  same 
cue.  In  boyhood  we  were  playmates ;  in  youth 
companions.  When  we  crossed  the  median  line  be- 
tween youth  and  manhood  by  which  you  are  stand- 
ing to-day,  the  shadow  of  impending  conflict  hung 
over  the  land.  Side  by  side  we  received  "the  bap- 
tism of  fire "  on  the  first  great  battle-field  of  the 
mightiest  struggle  that  history  records.     In  its  lurid 

13 


14  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

light  we  learned  how  close  is  the  bond  that  unites 
each  individual  life  to  the  common  destiny — how  the 
great  world-life  rests  evenly  on  every  man's  shoul- 
ders ;  how  the  atoms  make  up  the  mass  and  the 
whole  is  colored  by  the  life  of  each.  In  that  hour 
our  friendship  was  cemented  by  the  strange  intimacy 
which  community  of  peril  gives — the  comradeship 
that  fuses  the  hearts  of  those  who  stand  shoulder  to 
shoulder  amid  the  red  glare  of  battle — a  sentiment 
which  no  diversity  of  rank  or  station  can  ever  after- 
ward wholly  destroy.  Hardly  a  year  had  passed  when 
already  bronzed  and  toughened  veterans,  standing  by 
his  side  on  the  crest  of  a  hill,  which  that  autumn 
day  made  forever  memorable,  I  heard  most  force- 
fully expressed  the  injunction  which  I  would  might 
first  of  all  things  fall  upon  the  ears  and  impress  itself 
upon  the  soul  of  every  young  American  as  he  crosses 
the  threshold  of  manhood  : 

It  is  no  light  thing  to  be  a  man.  "Behold  a 
man-child  is  born,"  is  the  celestial  greeting  to  those 
into  whose  hands  the  destinies  of  unnumbered  gen- 
erations are  committed.  Crowns  may  crumble  ;  kings 
may  perish;  dynasties  may  be  forgotten;  but  in  the 
lives  of  those  who  are  to  come  after  him,  each  man 
finds  an  immortality.  It  is  no  unusual  injunction, 
yet  the  One  Divine  did  not  esteem  it  unworthy  of 
obedience,  and  taught  us  by  His  example  that  it  is 


''BE  A  man:' 


15 


the  golden  door  by  which  humanity  may  be  ap- 
proached. He  who  would  faithfully  serve,  worthily 
lead,  or  pleasantly  consort  with  his  fellows,  must,  first 
of  all  things,  be  a  man.  It  is  strange  how  this  sim- 
ple phrase  was  stamped  that  day  upon  my  mind. 
No  doubt  the  surroundings  had  much  to  do  with  the 
vividness  with  which  it  stands  out  in  my  memory  of 
a  scene  which  itself  was  one  of  those  that  leave  a  scar 
upon  the  soul  no  after  life  can  obliterate. 

It  was  a  fair  October  day.  The  Indian  summer 
haze  hung  on  the  distant  hillsides.  The  elms  were 
already  bare  and  brown.  The  red  berries  of  the 
holly  showed  through  the  prickly  leaves  where  they 
grew  in  clusters  by  the  road-side.  The  hickories 
made  golden  gashes  in  the  wooded  horizon.  The 
sumach  flamed  in  the  hedge-rows,  and  the  persimmons 
were  Just  changing  their  dull  green  for  the  duller 
red  that  tells  of  the  ripening  touch  of  frost.  The 
fields  were  white  with  dry,  feathery  sedge-grass,  or 
dark  with  the  rank  growth  of  sere  ragweed  that 
clothed  the  stubble  lands.  The  walnut-trees  had 
strewn  their  pale  leaves  and  green-coated  fruit  in 
amber  circles  on  the  unfrequented  roadway  along 
which  we  had  marched  that  morning.  Our  feet  had 
slipped  upon  the  acrid  shells  and  crushed  the  nuts 
into  the  dark  red  soil,  filling  the  air  with  spicy  aroma. 
The  oaks  that  crowned  the  Kentucky  "knobs" 
were  showing  russet  tints,  and  the  low-branching 
chestnuts  held   up   the  velvet  lining  of  their  burrs  in 


l6  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

mute  protestation  of  the  faithfulness  with  which  they 
had  surrendered  their  treasures,  keeping  nothing  back 
to  tempt  the  hand  of  the  ravisher. 

We  met  the  dropping  irregular  fire  of  the  skir- 
mishers before  the  sun  had  climbed  half-way  to  the 
meridian,  and  pushed  them  backward  over  hill  and 
dale  until  the  noon  glared  hotly  down  upon  us,  and 
the  angry  roar  of  artillery  began  to  mingle  with  their 
scattering  fire.  Yet  there  was  no  hostile  force  in 
sight.  Our  light  skirmish  line  easily  advanced,  al- 
most unhindered  by  the  shots  which  they  returned, 
no  doubt,  with  like  harmlessness.  The  preparations 
for  conflict  were  deliberately,  though  foolishly,  made. 
The  general  in  command  was  a  soldier  by  education, 
and  a  palterer  by  instinct.  He  had  an  overwhelming 
dread  of  his  opponent,  was  without  confidence  in 
those  he  commanded,  and  had  an  invincible  dis- 
trust of  himself.  He  was  a  scientific  soldier,  who 
wanted  to  see  all  the  enemy's  powers  before  making 
a  move! 

Marching  through  a  cornfield,  where  the  maize 
stalks  stood  in  serried  rows  of  rankest  growth,  as  the 
rifle  balls  came  whistling  by,  we  learned  to  distinguish 
by  the  sound  whether  they  cut  stalk  or  leaf  or  scattered 
the  golden  grains  from  the  ripe,  drooping  ear.  Halt- 
ing beneath  the  shadow  of  a  grove  of  oaks,  we 
laughed,  not  altogether  joyfully,  as  we  felt  the  ripe 
acorns,  rattled  down  upon  our  heads  by  the  shells 
that     came    screeching     through     the     heavy-laden 


''BE  A  MAN."  ly 

branches.  At  length  we  reached  an  unprotected 
crest  where  the  stubble  showed  yellow  in  the  midday 
sunshine.  Cannon  to  right  and  left,  in  front  and 
rear,  made  the  earth  tremble,  and  filled  the  palpi- 
tating air  with  soft,  fleecy  clouds,  that  floated  away 
from  the  exploding  shells.  All  were  hidden  from 
our  sight  by  the  wooded  "knobs"  around,  except 
one  battery  to  our  left  and  rear  that  fired  spitefully 
into  the  silent  woods,  and  one  that  with  reckless  au- 
dacity was  pushed  forward  in  our  very  front.  The 
fire  of  the  skirmishers  had  died  away,  and  the  stillness 
of  the  hot  noonday  was  only  broken  by  this  angry 
duel  waged  over  our  heads.  Not  an  enemy  was  to 
be  seen,  and  with  all  the  clangor  that  filled  the  balmy 
air,  it  was  difficult  to  realize  that  we  were  standing 
on  a  battle-field.  The  blue  line  halted.  The  align- 
ment was  corrected.  Those  who  wore  swords  fell 
back  to  their  respective  stations  in  the  rear  of  the 
steel-crowned  ranks.  We  waited  only  for  the  order 
to  advance  in  line  upon  the  unseen  foe. 

Just  in  front  of  me  stood  a  lad  whose  great  brown 
eyes  and  dark  waving  locks  were  like  those  your 
mirror  reveals  when  you  look  into  its  silvery  depths. 
He  Avas  yet  in  his  teens — the  down  of  coming  man- 
hood scarce!}'-  casting  a  shadow  on  his  fine  lip,  which 
quivered  with  excitement  as  he  asked  in  a  tense 
whisper  as  I  passed  down  the  line,  "Do  you  think 
there  will  be  a  battle?" 

It  was  the   first  time  he  had  witnessed  the  pre- 


1 8  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

liminaries  of  such  a  conflict.  Hardly  more  than  a 
month  before  he  had  left  a  peaceful  home,  despite  a 
brother's  remonstrance  and  a  sister's  prayer,  to  un- 
dertake a  soldier's  duty  and  encounter  a  soldier's 
perils.  Almost  as  he  spoke,  from  a  wooded  crest 
scarce  a  bowshot  away,  leaped  flashing  tongues  of 
flame  that  brought  the  message  of  death  to  hundreds 
of  our  ill-fated  left  wing  on  that  day  so  fecund  of 
the  angry  memories  which  fill  the  soldier's  heart 
when  he  feels  himself  balked  of  triumph,  and  knows 
his  comrade's  blood  to  have  been  vainly  shed  through 
a  leader's  gross  incompetency. 

A  shudder  ran  along  the  line.  Men  moaned  and 
sunk  into  eternal  silence.  Others  spun  quickly  round, 
and  with  upstretched  arms  and  rigid  muscles  fell  stiff" 
and  prone  to  rearward,  as  if  the  thought  of  flight 
had  flashed  in  that  last  instant  through  the  shattered 
brain.  Still  others  crept  pallid  and  trembling  to  the 
rear,  pressing  with  bloody  hands  the  pulsing  fount- 
ains through  which  their  life-blood  ebbed  away.  I 
took  little  heed  of  those  things  at  the  time.  They 
were  only  incidents  that  photographed  themselves 
upon  my  memory.  At  such  a  moment  a  subaltern 
has  time  and  thought  for  nothing  but  the  men 
composing  that  part  of  the  line  for  which  he  is  re- 
sponsible. His  eyes  are  upon  them  ;  his  ears  open 
only  to  the  commands  that  may  be  transmitted ;  his 
whole  attention  concentrated  upon  those  few  files 
which  he  must  encourage,  assist,  inspire. 


*^  BE  A  man:'  19 

No  one  waited  for  orders  after  that  deadly  blast. 
All  knew  that  we  were  in  the  very  vortex  of  battle. 
Before  any  officer's  lips  could  frame  the  command  to 
fire,  the  polished  barrels  had  fallen  to  the  poise;  there 
was  the  fateful  click  of  back-drawn  hammers;  the 
gleam  of  flashing  eyes  along  the  leveled  steel  and  the 
roar  of  the  answering  volley.  Then  came  the  inde- 
scribable turmoil  of  battle.  The  air  seemed  full  of 
hissing  metal.  Men  stood  or  knelt,  but  kept  on 
firing  steadily.  The  files  grew  fewer.  I  paced  back 
and  forth  behind  them,  proud  alike  of  the  living  and 
the  dead.  The  young  lad  bit  his  cartridge  and  rammed 
home  the  ball,  his  fair  face  aglow  with  excitement, 
but  his  hand  as  steady  as  a  veteran's.  As  he  fixed 
the  cap,  his  eye  sought  with  quick,  stolen  glances  the 
flame-lit  copse  in  which  the  foe  lay  hid.  On  either 
hand  his  stricken  comrades  were  falling  thick  and  fast — 
dropping  where  they  stood  or  staggering  backward 
in  that  pallid  swoon  that  tells  the  woeful  tale  of  death 
even  more  terribly  than  the  silent  heaps  of  clay  that 
fall  unmoving  at  our  feet.  Ah  me  !  how  swift  the 
blue  line  melted !  and  still  the  unseen  enemy  poured 
upon  us  the  pitiless  leaden  hail,  and  still  we  loaded 
and  fired  at  the  smoking  thicket. 

Then  the  weak  line  wavered,  bending  backward 
here  and  there  where  it  had  grown  thinnest  in  the 
breath  of  the  hot  tornado.  At  that  moment  the 
brother  of  this  lad,  a  veteran  to  whom  battle-scenes 
had  grown  familiar,  rushing  for  an  instant  from  his 


20  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

post  of  duty,  sought  along  the  weakened  line  for  the 
boy  who  was  to  him  as  the  apple  of  his  ej'e.  His 
face  was  h"ghted  with  the  glare  of  battle ;  his  lips  shut 
close  and  his  eyes  blazed  with  the  fierce  joy  that 
comes  to  the  hero  soul  in  the  hour  of  supreme  peril. 
As  his  glance  fell  upon  the  youth  he  sought,  the 
half-anxious  look  faded  from  his  face  and  a  smile  of 
grim  satisfaction  took  its  place.  He  laid  his  hand 
upon  his  brother's  shoulder,  and  said  in  the  even  tone 
that  sounds  so  clear  above  the  roar  of  battle:  " Be  a 
man,  John !  " 

There  was  a  look  of  proud  reproachfulness  on  the 
fair,  powder-stained  face  that  turned  to  meet  his  gaze, 
and  a  smile  of  yet  prouder  approval  curved  the  bearded 
lip  as  the  veteran's  hand  rested  an  instant  on  the  boy's 
shoulder,  and  he  repeated  tenderly  his  injunction, 
"Be  a  man,  John!" 

The  tide  of  battle  ebbed  and  flowed,  and  when 
the  moon  rose  after  that  tumultuous  day,  it  shone  on 
John's  face,  white  and  cold,  lying  where  he  had  stood, 
with  the  pallid  ranks  stretching  away  on  either  hand, 
his  feet  the  very  foremost  towards  the  foe.  He  sleeps 
in  peace  under  the  giant  oaks  which  seem  to  exult 
even  yet  in  the  valorous  fight  that  was  waged  in  the 
shadow  of  their  branches. 

You  bear  the  name  of  that  young  hero.  The 
blood  that  swells  your  veins  is  akin  to  that  which 
stained  the  stubble  on  that  fateful  field.  You,  too, 
are  entering  upon  a  mighty  conflict.     The  battle  field 


''BE  A  man:'  21 

of  life  stretches  away  before  your  feet.  Every  point 
of  vantage  is  held  by  an  enemy  open  or  concealed. 
The  world  looks  on,  expectant  of  valorous  deeds. 
The  country  for  which  your  honored  namesake  died 
asks  no  less  of  you  than  it  demanded  of  him.  It 
may  not  call  you  to  the  field  of  conflict.  Your  heart 
may  never  throb  with  "that  stern  joy  that  warriors 
feel."  You  may  never  know  the  intoxication  of 
triumph  or  the  sickening  woe  of  defeat.  Yet  all  the 
same,  the  country  expects,  and  has  a  right  to  expect, 
that  you  will  protect  her  interests,  conserve  her  liber- 
ties, and  devote  yourself  to  her  service  with  a  courage, 
devotion,  self  sacrifice,  and  intelligence  not  excelled 
by  him  whose  name  you  bear.  The  battles  of  liberty 
and  right  are  not  all  fought  with  the  sword,  and  the 
noblest  victories  are  ofttimes  peaceful  and  bloodless 
ones ;  but  the  same  heroic  attributes  are  required  to 
win  them  that  sustain  the  soldier  in  the  hour  of 
battle.  It  was  the  hero  poet-king  who  put  to  rout 
the  enemies  of  Israel,  but  it  was  the  son  whose  hands 
knew  not  the  stain  of  blood,  who  builded  the  temple 
of  the  Most  High. 

"  Peace  hath  her  victories 
No  less  renowned  than  war." 

It  is  not  for  me  to  prescribe  what  you  should 
do.  You  hold  in  your  hands  the  weapons  of  to- 
day. You  are  in  the  fore-front  of  the  battle.  I  am 
of  the  past,  lingering  in  the  rear,  once  more  a  sub- 
altern who  seeks  to  inspire  rather  than  direct.     You 


22  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

are  armed  and  equipped  and  on  your  courage  and 
skill  the  outcome  of  the  conflict  rests.  Presumably, 
you  have  been  tauglit  to  use  your  weapons  and 
trained  to  perform  the  duties  devolving  upon  you. 
You  have  the  right  to  ask  the  veteran,  who  has  often 
watched  the  signs  of  coming  conflict,  "Do  you  think 
there  will  be  a  battle?"  though  the  answer  will  not 
come  from  his  lips  but  from  the  foemen  who  ever 
beset  the  pathway  of  progress  and  threaten  the  temple 
of  liberty.  Yesterday  can  never  fight  the  battles  of 
to-day,  nor  even  point  out  how  its  victories  shall  be 
won.  It  can  only  train  the  soldiers  who  shall  join 
battle  with  unseen  foes,  and  fight,  and  fall  perhaps, 
in  the  never-ending  conflict  for  the  right. 

As  a  part  of  the  past  which  lays  at  once  its  behest 
and  benison  upon  the  present,  and,  relying  upon  its 
courage,  fortitude,  and  devotion,  bids  defiance  to  the 
ills  of  the  future,  I  can  but  repeat  the  injunction  your 
honored  father  laid  upon  his  young  brother  amid  the 
roar  of  battle,   "  Be  a  man,  John!" 

You  and  all  those  who  will  come  with  you  into 
the  birthright  of  American  citizenship  in  this  year 
of  Grace,  have  a  rich  inheritance  of  example  to  in- 
spire to  patriotic  endeavor.  You  were  born  at  the 
climax  of  an  heroic  epoch.  You  were  the  first-fruits 
of  peace.  The  cannon's  triumphant  echoes  rocked 
the  cradles  of  the  rescued  nation's  new-born  sons. 
The  songs  of  the  camp  were  your  lullaby,  and  the  story 
of  a  father's  heroism  the  food  on  which  your  young 


''BE  A  man:\  23 

imagination  fed.  In  all  the  world's  history  there  has 
never  been  a  generation  so  splendidly  equipped,  so 
proudly  sired,  and  of  whom  the  world  has  a  right  to 
demand  so  high  an  ideal  of  duty,  such  complete 
devotion  to  the  right,  and  so  grand  a  tale  of  noble 
achievements.  If  blood  tells,  surely  men  begotten  by 
heroes  in  the  first  moments  of  peace,  after  a  quadren- 
niate  of  the  most  glorious  warfare,  should  be  braver, 
stronger,  and  truer  than  the  children  of  care  or  the 
petted  offspring  of  prosperous  ease. 

There  is  scarcely  one  in  all  the  thousands  whom 
this  year  will  usher  into  American  citizenship,  and 
who  will  for  the  first  time  exercise  the  powers  of  a 
citizen,  who  is  not  able  to  point  to  some  spot  in  our 
national  domain,  sanctified  by  the  very  blood  that 
flows  in  his  veins  undiluted  by  intervening  lives. 
Whether  shed  under  the  "Stars"  or  beneath  the  ill- 
fated  shadow  of  the  "Bars,"  the  lesson  of  hero-blood 
is  still  the  same  matchless  truth  sanctified  by  the  lips 
of  the  noblest  spirit  of  even  that  climacteric  epoch — 
"Devotion  to  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the 
right !  " 

The  heroic  past  looks  to  its  first-born  for  the  per- 
formance, not  of  specific  testamentary  injunctions,  but 
for  the  fulfillment  of  the  one  all-comprehending  behest 
which  the  heat  of  battle  distilled  from  your  father's 
Hps,  itself  the  very  essence  of  liis  own  heroic  life: 


II. 

"LONG  LIVE  THE  KING." 

There  is  a  story  of  the  Tsar  Nicholas,  which 
every  American  mother  ought  to  tell  to  her  children 
when  she  would  teach  them  "  that  country's  a  thing 
men  should  die  for  at  need,"  or,  what  is  more  diffi- 
cult, live  for,  since 

"  Peace  hath  higher  tests  of  manhood 
Than  battle  ever  knew," 

It  is  said  that  when  the  first  section  of  rail- 
way ever  built  in  Russia  was  completed,  the  great 
Tsar  made  a  tour  of  inspection  over  it,  attended  by 
a  numerous  and  brilliant  suite.  The  American  en- 
gineer, under  whose  direction  it  had  been  constructed, 
accompanied  the  party,  and,  naturally  enough,  was 
called  on  by  the  sovereign  to  point  out  the  difficulties 
which  had  been  overcome,  explain  how  the  work  had 
been  accomplished,  and  unfold  the  advantages  to  be 
derived  by  the  Muscovite  empire  from  the  system  of 
railways  which  he  had  devised,  and  of  which  the  line 
they  were  testing  was  only  the  beginning.  It  was  an 
opportunity  he  had  long  desired;  for  he  thought,  not 
without  reason,  that  if  he  could  once  get  the  ear  of 
24  . 


''LONG  LIVE  THE  KING:'  2$ 

the  sagacious  monarch  he  would  be  able  to  convince 
him  that  the  future  strength  and  glory  of  the  empire 
depended  on  just  such  an  adaptation  of  the  great 
force  of  modern  civilization. 

In  anticipation  of  this  occasion,  therefore,  the 
engineer  had  prepared  a  map  which  showed  how, 
by  lines  which  would  require  no  protecting  forces, 
being  beyond  the  reach  of  hostile  attack,  and  ap- 
proaching foreign  borders  only  at  what  are  strate- 
gically termed  "points  of  contact,"  every  frontier 
of  the  empire  might  be  made  more  accessible  from 
within  than  by  any  hostile  power  from  without. 
By  it  he  was  able  to  demonstrate  that  England's 
sovereignty  of  the  seas  might  be  set  at  naught;  the 
barricades  of  the  Bosphorus  be  laughed  at ;  Persia 
made  a  wall  of  defense  rather  than  an  obstacle  to  the 
empire's  enlargement;  India  threatened  without  ex- 
posing Cronstadt ;  the  Turk's  position  attacked  from 
the  rear,  and  Austria  and  Prussia  left  powerless  to 
intervene.  The  plan  has  since  been  carried  out  in 
part,  and  the  fact  clearly  established  that  the  Amer- 
ican engineer  fully  comprehended  the  military  advan- 
tages of  the  Muscovite  empire,  and  fathomed  the 
necessity  for  constant  aggression  which  underlies  the 
throne  of  the  Tsar — a  fate  at  once  terrible  and  resist- 
less, which  impels  the  empire  towards  its  destiny. 
Even  as  these  sheets  are  passing  through  the  press, 
the  half-completed  system  he  devised  is  one  of  the 
most  important  elements   of  what   is  known   as  the 

3 


26  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

"European  situation."  When  it  is  perfected,  and 
the  whole  strength  of  the  great  empire  can  be  readily 
concentrated  at  any  point  on  its  borders,  no  adjoin- 
ing nationahty  will  be  able  to  resist  its  power,  and 
no  allied  forces  able  to  punish  it  for  aggression, 
"Russia  has  but  to  wait  and  watch,"  said  the  great 
Peter.  More  truly  might  it  now  be  said  that  she 
has  but  to  wait,  and  build  railroads  diverging  from 
her  great,  unassailable  center. 

So  interested  did  the  American  become  in  his 
great  project  that  unconsciously  he  took  a  seat  beside 
the  emperor,  and  unfolding  the  map  upon  his  knee, 
began  to  point  out  to  the  autocrat  of  all  the  Russias 
the  capabilities  of  his  vast  dominion.  Mile  after 
mile  the  train  sped  on,  and  still  the  two  continued 
their  conversation.  Sometimes  it  was  the  engineer- 
ing difficulties  of  the  line  over  which  they  were  pass- 
mg,  and  sometimes  the  future  of  the  empire  that 
occupied  their  attention.  In  the  suite  of  the  autocrat 
were  cabinet  ministers,  generals,  officers  of  his  body- 
guard, and  many  of  the  most  illustrious  nobles  of  the 
realm.  All  of  them  remained  standing ;  only  the 
Tsar  and  the  American,  in  his  plain  frock-coat,  were 
seated.  The  engineer  was  unconscious  of  this  breach 
of  royal  etiquette,  and  the  Tsar  had  either  been  too 
deeply  absorbed  to  notice,  or  had  chosen  to  overlook 
it.  To  the  courtiers,  however,  it  was  a  most  heinous 
offense.  Their  eyes  flashed,  the  black  Muscovite 
brows  contracted,  and  their  swarthy  cheeks  burned 


"  LONG  LIVE  THE  KING."  27 

with  rage,  as  they  noted  the  unconscious  impudence 
of  the  American.  At  length  their  muttered  indigna- 
tion reached  the  ear  of  JSTicholas.  He  was  not  one 
to  allow  inferiors  to  comment  on  wliat  he  chose  to 
permit.  Turning  towards  them  with  that  imperial 
dignity  which  characterized  him,  he  said: 

"  You  are  wrong,  gentlemen.  This  man  is  a  king! 
You  are  only  subjects.  He  may  be  the  ruler  of  his 
people  to-morrow;  you  can  never  be  more  than  the 
servants  of  your  sovereign  !" 

The  Tsar  was  not  only  right,  but  in  a  sense  which 
he  could  hardly  have  understood,  the  man  with  whom 
he  conversed  was  not  only  a  possible  ruler,  but  an 
actual  sovereign,  and,  as  such,  entitled  by  royal  eti- 
quette to  sit  in  the  presence  of  kings. 

You  have  no  doubt  come  to  accept  the  modern 
notion  which  sneers  at  American  political  ideas  as,  in 
the  main,  correct.  You  have,  perhaps,  been  accus- 
tomed to  speak  of  our  government  as  the  "republican 
experiment,"  and  wagged  your  head  in  grave  premo- 
nition while  discoursing  of  specific  ills  that  seem  to 
impend.  You  may  even  have  questioned  whether  citi- 
zenship in  the  great  Republic  is  a  thing  to  be  proud 
of;  though  I  trust  you  have  not  yet  come  to  profess 
yourself  ashamed  of  the  birthright  hallowed  by  your 
father's  blood.  Comparing  our  American  life  with  spe- 
cific phases  of  life  in  other  lands,  you  may,  however; 
have  become  sufficiently  "  advanced  "  in  your  views  to 
coolly  ask  yourself  whether  there  is  any  solid  distinc- 


28  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

tion  between  the  terms  "citizen"  and  "subject," 
and  whether  "republican  institutions"  really  imply 
an  enlargement  of  human  liberty  and  individual  rights. 
It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  among  those  claiming  to  rep- 
resent the  most  highly  cultivated  and  intelligent 
classes,  especially  of  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States, 
the  general  trend  of  sentiment  is  in  the  direction  of 
admitting  the  failure  of  republican  institutions,  and  the 
acceptance  of  modifications  and  limitations  thereof 
which  will  restrict  the  privileges  of  the  many  and 
enhance  the  power  of  the  few.  In  other  words,  there 
is  to  be  found  among  those  claiming  to  represent  the 
most  advanced  thought,  the  highest  aspiration  and 
purest  purpose,  a  distinct  tendency  to  restrict  the  oper- 
ation of  the  distinctive  principle  of  American  democ- 
racy,— equality  of  right,  privilege,    and  opportunity. 

We  are  often  told  that  the  "experiment"  of  self- 
government  and  unrestricted  privilege  has  proved  a 
failure — as  if  it  were  a  completed  experiment,  a  system, 
a  form,  and  not  2l\\  evolution  or  condition  of  individual 
and  collective  life. 

The  fact  that  kings  have  become  tyrants,  and 
that  misgovernment  and  revolution  resulted,  though 
it  has  been  repeated  over  and  over  again  for  centuries, 
is  not  regarded  as  sufficient  to  establish  the  conclu- 
sion that  monarchy  as  a  form  of  government  is  a 
failure.  Yet  monarchy  is  an  experiment  which  has 
failed  a  hundred  times  for  every  instance  in  which 
democracy  has  proved  unsuccessful.     In  such  cases, 


^<LONG  LIVE  THE  KING."  29 

however,  the  world  has  very  properly  attributed  the 
failure,  not  so  much  to  defects  of  the  system,  as  to 
the  folly  of  the  sovereign.  It  may  be  doubted  if 
there  has  thus  far  in  the  history  of  mankind  been  any 
great  popular  movement  which  was  at  the  outset 
aimed  specifically  against  \.\\q  form  of  government, — 
d^nanding  the  overthrow  of  monarchy  and  the  estab- 
Hshment  of  a  republic  as  its  prime  object, — unless, 
perhaps,  it  was  the  French  Revolution  of  1848.  Even 
then  it  was  more  the  folly  of  the  sovereign  than  the 
form  of  government  that  provoked  the  uprising  of 
the  people.  Almost  invariably  the  chief  aiin  of  pop- 
ular revolution  has  been  the  reform  of  abuses  which 
a  sagacious  ruler  should  have  granted  without  com- 
pulsion, and  a  really  wise  one  would  never  have 
permitted  to  exist.  Good  government  rather  than 
selfgovernment  has  usually  been  the  incentive  to 
revolution. 

Even  in  the  case  of  the  American  Colonies,  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  the  rebellion  was  not  against 
specific  acts  of  Parliament  and  the  traditional  policy 
of  Great  Britain,  rather  than  against  monarchical 
government;  or,  rather,  I  might  say,  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  doubt  that  such  was  the  real  fact.  To 
this  may  be  added,  no  doubt,  the  personal  unpopu- 
larity of  George  III  and  the  non-English  character 
of  the  royal  family.  In  Great  Britain  the  choice  lay 
between  the  House  of  Hanover  and  the  Stuarts ;  in 
the  Colonies,  antipathy  to  the  representative  of  sov- 


30  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

ereign  authority  intensified  the  feehng  against  a  gov- 
ernment which,  despite  all  that  may  be  said  in 
glorification  of  our  fathers,  had  become  irksome  be- 
cause of  its  character  rather  than  its  form.  The 
skill  of  Jefferson  planted  the  seeds  of  democracy  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  made  action 
under  it,  of  necessit}-,  a  movement  in  the  direction  of 
popular  government  as  an  well  as  independent  gov- 
ernment. Even  in  this  instance,  therefore,  it  can  not 
be  properly  predicated  of  the  monarchical  form  of 
government,  that  it  proved  itself  a  failure ;  but  only 
that  the  Parliamentary  and  ministerial  policy  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  personal  unpopularity  of  a  foreign 
dynasty  drove  the  colonists  to  elect  between  their 
hereditary  sovereign  and  the  only  possible  alterna- 
tive,— the  experiment  of  popular  government. 

But  if  repeated  instances  of  failure  and  unnum- 
bered revolutions  are  not  enough  logically  to  estab- 
hsh  the  insufficiency  of  the  monarchical  form  of 
government,  as  such,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  pes- 
simistic inconsistency  which,  after  less  than  a  hundred 
years  of  trial,  begins  anxiously  to  inquire  whether 
"the  experiment"  of  republican  government  has  not 
proved  a  failure?  Why  in  the  case  of  a  republic  are 
we  inclined  to  leap  at  once  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  "form  of  government  "  is  at  fault,  and  in  the 
case  of  a  monarchy  attribute  the  "failure"  to  the 
folly  or  incapacity  of  the  particular  sovereign  who  at 
the    time    bears    sway?     If  we    admit    that    it    was 


''LONG  LIVE  THE  KING:'  3 1 

the  policy  of  Great  Britain  and  the  character  of  the 
Hanoverian  dynasty  that  produced  the  evils  which 
resulted  in  our  War  of  Revolution,  why  should  we 
not  attribute  our  present  ills  and  those  prospective 
ones  to  which  we  look  forward  with  such  universal 
dread,  not  to  the  system  of  government,  but  to  the 
character  of  the  sovereign  and  the  policy  of  the 
nation,  which  has  become  as  fixed  as  the  colonial 
theory  of  England  was  when  we  revolted  against  her 
dominion  ?  It  is  not  alone  the  republican  theory 
of  government  that  is  on  trial  in  our  country,  but 
the  American  people — the  sovereign  power  of  the 
land — as  well.  Indeed,  the  most  important  inquiry 
presented  for  our  consideration  to-day,  is  not  whether 
a  republican  government  is  susceptible  of  success- 
ful and  permanent  application  to  the  affairs  of  a 
great  nation,  nor  even  whether  the  American  sys- 
tem contains  the  proper  checks  and  balances,  but 
whether  the  American  people  are  fitted  for  the 
successful  administration  of  a  democratic  form  of 
government,  and  if  not,  why  not. 

In  every  experiment  two  things  are  tested — the 
process  and  the  material.  A  defect  of  either  may 
produce  failure,  and  only  a  fool'  will  condemn  the 
process  for  lack  of  strength,  purity,  or  fitness  in  the 
material.  The  history  of  every  nation  is  but  the 
record  of  an  experiment,  in  which  the  wisdom  and 
capacity  of  the  sovereign  is  the  material,  and  the  form 
of  government  the   process.     As  for  the  governed, 


32  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

they  are  a  constant  factor.  They  may  be  separated 
by  the  whole  distance  between  the  lowest  barbarism 
and  the  highest  civilization,  but  their  relation  to  the 
governing  power  remains  always  the  same.  That 
government  is  the  best  for  any  people  which  produces 
the  highest  average  of  happiness — "the  greatest  good 
of  the  greatest  number,"  as  we  are  accustomed  to 
phrase  it.  This  it  is  the  function  of  the  sovereign — 
the  government — to  secure,  and  a  failure  to  effect 
this  result  demonstrates  either  that  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment is  unsuited  to  the  needs  of  the  people,  or 
that  the  sovereign  is  unfitted  to  administer  it  so  as  to 
produce  the  best  results  The  republican  theory  is, 
that  monarchy  can  never  be  conducive  of  "the 
greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number;"  and  the 
American  idea  is,  that  a  government  ' '  by  the  people  " 
will  always  be  productive  of  this  result. 

Both  these  statements  are  fallacies,  because  both 
ignore  the  most  important  element  of  the  mighty 
problem — the  capacity  and  fitness  of  the  sovereign. 
Undoubtedly  an  absolute  monarch,  possessing  all  the 
qualities  of  an  ideal  sovereign,  might  advance  the 
welfare,  secure  the  peace,  promote  .the  prosperity, 
and,  generally,  subserve  the  highest  interests  of  the 
greatest  number  of  his  subjects  more  effectually  than 
is  possible  by  any  other  form  of  government;  for 
absolute  power  is  able  to  cut  many  a  Gordian  knot 
which  a  sovereignty  hampered  by  conditions  must 
laboriously  untie.     In  like  manner,  a  people  possess- 


''LONG  LIVE  THE  KING."  33 

ing  neither  aptitude  nor  inclination  for  government 
may  very  easily  make  a  democracy  the  most  corrupt 
and  debasing  political  organization  the  world  has  ever 
known.  The  trouble  in  both  cases  is  not  so  much  in 
the  "form  of  government "  as  in  the  character  of  the 
sovereign  power.  As  tyranny  hides  forever  in  the 
shadow  of  the  throne,  so  anarchy  lurks  always  within 
the  verge  of  popular  government.  "A  wise  ruler 
maketh  a  glad  people,"  is  equally  true  whether  the 
scepter  is  wielded  by  one  hand  or  many,  and  the 
character  of  the  sovereign  is  always  the  most  impor- 
tant element  in  every  governmental  experiment, 
whether  the  sovereign  be  a  unit  or  a  multitude. 

History  gibbets  the  incapable  or  unjust  king, 
holding  him  up  to  future  ages  as  an  object  of  ever- 
lasting infamy.  Responsibility  is  not  lessened  by 
partition.  Even  infinite  subdivision  can  not  relieve 
or  excuse  the  very  least  of  the  component  factors. 
Wisdom,  courage,  honest)^  and  zeal  are  demanded 
of  every  one  on  whom  the  burden  of  government 
rests,  whether  separately  or  in  conjunction  with  others. 
To  fail  in  either  of  these  requirements  is  to  fail  in  all. 
Wisdom  without  courage  makes  the  ruler  the  tool 
of  the  ambitious ;  without  honesty  he  becomes  an 
oppressor ;  without  zeal,  the  victim  of  the  unscru- 
pulous. Courage  without  honesty  is  a  consuming 
flame;  and  zeal  without  wisdom  the  sure  precursor 
of  destruction 

Are  YOU  fitted  to  be  a  king  ? 


34  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

This  is  the  question  which  the  country  anxiously 
propounds  to  those  upon  whose  brows  is  placed 
the  crown  of  citizenship.  Do  you  know  the  needs 
of  your  fellows — how  the  happiness  of  the  great- 
est number  may  be  best  subserved?  Are  you  brave 
enough  to  stand  by  your  convictions,  and  main- 
tain the  right  as  God  gives  you  to  see  it,  with  brain 
and  with  brawn,  too,  if  need  be?  Can  you.  face 
ridicule  as  well  as  power ;  resist  craft  as  well  as 
force ;  and  submit  graciously  to  the  popular  will 
when  fairly  outnumbered?  Are  you  honest  enough 
to  prefer  the  right  and  frugality,  to  the  wrong  and 
profusion ;  the  comfort  of  the  many  to  the  luxury  of 
the  few ;  the  right  of  your  fellows  to  your  own  oppor- 
tunity? Have  you  zeal  to  undertake  whatever  task 
wisdom  may  prescribe,  courage  may  demand,  or 
honesty  impose? 

This,  and  more  than  this,  it  is  to  be  an  American 
citizen  worthy  of  the  name  and  of  the  sovereignty 
it  confers.  The  world,  as  it  welcomes  you  to  the 
estate  of  manhood,  calls  upon  you  to  "  be  a  man!" 
Tlie  nation,  as  it  places  upon  your  brow  the  crown 
of  sovereignty  and  admits  you  to  the  plane  of  citizen- 
ship, solemnly  enjoins  you  to  be  a  king!  Religion 
sanctions  and  confirms  these  behests  as  fundamental, 
both  to  "the  life  that  now  is,  and  that  which  is  to 
come!" 


III. 

THE  ANTECHAMBER  TO  THE  THRONE. 

No  DOUBT  you  think,  my  young  friend,  that  I 
am  'inclined  to  magnify  the  importance  of  the  legal 
transition  from  youth  to  manhood  which  marks  the 
opening  of  your  twenty-first  year.  You  are  }'ourself 
unconscious  of  any  change.  No  fitting  ceremonial 
marks  the  momentous  event.  No  toga  viiilis  en- 
cumbers the  hitherto  untrammeled  limbs,  and  attests 
the  transformation  from  infancy  to  adultness.  One 
more  birthday — that  is  all!  You  think  you  have 
passed  a  mile-post  on  the  path  of  life,  not  that  you 
have  entered  a  new  way  or  become  a  new  creature. 

In  a  sense  this  is  true.  Regarding  yourself  intro- 
spectively,  it  is  no  wonder  that  you  observe  no  trans- 
formation. In  your  nature  none  has  taken  place,  nor 
even  in  your  surroundings.  The  same  faces  meet 
you  on  the  streets ;  the  same  friends  greet  you  in  the 
same  careless  tones.  John,  the  man,  is  nothing  more 
to  them  than  John,  the  boy.  If  you  are  a  king,  they 
do  not  see  the  m}'stic  circlet  on  your  brow.  To  them, 
as  well  as  to  yourself,  the  change  is  imperceptible, 
though  to  both  it  is  of  vital  importance. 

35 


36  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

This  will  seem  less  remarkable  if  we  keep  in  mind 
the  fact  that  the  change  is  one  of  relation  purely,  and 
not  of  character  or  condition.  What  you  were  yester- 
day morally  and  intellectually,  that  you  are  to-day  to 
yourself  and  to  all  the  world.  Potentially,  however, 
you  are  altogether  transformed.  Yesterday  you  were 
a  cipher;  to-day  you  are  a  significant  figure  in  the 
world's  notation.  Yesterday  you  were  a  subject ; 
to-day  you  are  a  sovereign. 

From  the  window  where  I  sit  at  my  work  I  some- 
times see  a  pile  driver,  sending  home  with  mighty 
strokes  great  quivering  masts,  on  which  some  weighty 
structure  is  to  rest.  1  love  to  watch  it  and  to  think 
of  its  similitude  to  life.  The  engine  groans  and  puffs; 
the  great  wheels  creak  as  the  strained  cable  is  wound 
about  the  drum ;  the  ponderous  weight  is  slowly 
raised  to  the  very  top  of  the  supporting  stanchions. 
Thus  labors  the  past,  from  whose  life  to-day  is  born. 
Untold  generations  travail  "and  bite  back  the  cry  of 
their  pain  in  self  scorn,"  to  start  a  new  soul  in  the 
journey  of  life  from  the  height  they  have  slowly  and 
painfully  attained. 

One  instant's  pause  !  A  ratchet  is  loosed  I  A  force 
is  generated  !  Then  there  is  silence  !  Down  the  guid- 
ing ways  slides  a  dull,  inert  mass — doing  nothing — 
only  falling  without  check !  The  wind  whistles  past 
it!  The  by-standers  watch  it  carelessly.  If  it  holds 
its  course,  it  will  strike  the  mast  beneath.  If  it  es- 
cape from  the  guiding  grooves,  it  will  fall  useless  to 


THE  ANTECHAMBER   TO  THE  THRONE.         37 

the  earth,  a  wasted  force  !  Nay,  it  may  even  so  strain 
and  rend  the  mechanism  by  which  it  was  raised,  that 
it  shall  be  unable  to  perform  its  work  until  repaired. 
It  falls  swiftly,  surely,  with  what  accumulation  of 
power  your  studies  have  taught  you  to  estimate.  It 
strikes !  The  dust  rises  !  The  earth  shakes  !  The 
mast  quivers  and  groans  and  shrinks !  The  weight 
lies  dull  and  dead!  Its  force  is  spent.  But  it  has 
done  its  work ! 

Such  is  life.  A  child  is  born,  and  grows  to  youth 
an  aimless  force — a  silent  potentiality.  It  reaches 
the  verge  of  manhood,  and  suddenly  it  is  transformed 
into  an  effective  agency,  giving  out  its  stored  energy, 
doing  its  work,  and  leaving  the  mechanism  of  society 
undisturbed — ready  to  repeat  the  blow !  The  trans- 
mutation from  latent  to  effective  force  is  a  perfect 
type  of  the  change  by  which  the  infant  becomes  an 
adult. 

I  am  sorry  to  be  compelled  to  use  these  terms, 
"infant"  and  "adult."  To  you  they  may  be  almost 
meaningless.  You  have  perhaps  at  best  but  a  dim 
idea  of  their  significance.  Your  notions  of  infancy 
are  probably  associated  with  the  cradle,  and  your  idea 
of  adultness  with  mustachios.  I  do  not  mean  by  this 
to  reflect  on  your  intelligence.  I  am  aware  that  you 
have  received  that  approved  equipment  for  life's  duties 
which  the  public  school  gives  to  every  young  Ameri- 
can, and  have  besides  pursued  with  creditable  success 
the  ordinary  college  curriculum.     I  do  not  mean  to 


4G2391 


38  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

imply  that  you  have  been  unmindful  of  your  oppor- 
tunities or  neglectful  of  your  privileges,  but  simply 
to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  our  American  system 
of  education  permits  the  boy  to  grow  to  manhood 
without  any  clear  conception  of  the  rights,  privileges 
and  responsibilities  of  either  station.  I  doubt  if  one 
of  a  hundred  of  your  fellow-graduates  of  this  year  of 
grace  could  give  an  intelligible  statement  of  the  dif- 
ference between  the  legal  estate  of  the  "  infant"  and 
of  the  "adult."  In  nine  cases  out  often,  if  required 
to  do  so,  they  would  probably  aver  that  the  distinc- 
tion lay  in  the  fact  that  an  "adult"  can  vote  and 
hold  office,  while  an  "infant"  can  not.  This,  like 
most  definitions  by  negation,  is  hardly  half  true,  since 
these  facts  are  merely  results  of  the  distinction,  and 
not  the  distinction  itself  A  man  must  be  an  "adult" 
to  become  a  voter,  but  does  not  become  a  voter 
simply  because  he  is  an  "adult." 

You  would  probably  excuse  j'ourself  and  your 
fellows  for  such  inaccuracy  of  definition  on  the  ground 
that  "infant"  and  "adult"  in  the  sense  I  seek  to  use 
them  are  technical  terms,  which  a  general  education, 
however  complete,  is  not  expected  to  prepare  one  to 
define  with  the  nicety  required  by  the  professional 
mind.  If  you  had  been  asked  to  state  the  difference 
between  a  "solid"  and  a  "fluid,"  you  would  not 
have  thought  of  making  any  such  excuse  for  failure. 
Yet  the  terms  "solid"  and  "fluid"  are  just  as  much 
technical  in  character  as  "infant"  and   "adult."     It 


THE  ANTECHAMBER   TO  THE  THRONE.  39 

is  true  that  "solid"  and  "fluid"  concern  the  funda- 
mentals of  physical  science;  but  "infant"  and  "adult" 
sustain  a  similar  relation  to  the  far  more  important 
science  of  human  rights.  The  only  difference  is,  that 
the  study  of  physical  science  has  come  to  be  regarded 
as  an  essential  of  liberal  culture,  along  with  many 
other  things  of  doubtful  use  or  unquestionable  use- 
lessness,  while  the  most  important  branch  of  human 
knowledge,  the  relations  of  humanity  as  affected  by 
political  convention,  finds  no  place  in  our  educational 
system. 

In  your  whole  course  of  study  you  have  only 
lightly  touched  upon  two  branches  of  law,  which  is  the 
greatest  of  all  sciences — the  science  of  human  right 
and  privilege,  the  principles  of  which  condition  every 
man's  existence  from  its  inception  until  the  last  will 
and  testament  is  made  and  published.  These  two 
branches,  which  you  have  cursorily  glanced  at,  are  the 
most  uncertain  in  their  terms  and  most  infrequent  and 
unsatisfactory  in  their  application ;  to  wit,  interna- 
tional and  constitutional  law.  As  to  all  the  rest  of 
the  domain  of  legal  right  and  privilege,  wrong  and 
remedy,  the  well-educated  American  is  sadly  and 
profoundly  ignorant;  and,  as  a  rule,  the  better  his 
education  the  more  dense  will  be  found  to  be  his 
ignorance  of  the  relations  he  sustains  to  his  fellows, 
collectively  if  not  individually. 

This  is  the  more  remarkable  because  our  English 
law — and  by  that  term  is  meant  the  whole  body  of 


40  LETTERS  TO  A  KING.       . 

Anglo-Saxon  jurisprudence — rests,  both  in  civil  and 
criminal  matters,  on  the  irrebuttable  presumption 
that  every  inhabitant  of  an  English-speaking  country 
knows,  not  only  the  general  principles  of  the  law,  but 
even  its  utmost  niceties.  Yet  the  English-speaking 
peoples  are  almost  the  only  ones  that  take  no  pains 
to  teach  their  youth  either  what  the  law  is  or  what 
it  ought  to  be. 

The  Jewish  law  was  taught  in  the  synagogue 
and  in  the  marketplace.  We  think  of  it  as  moral 
philosophy,  but  it  concerned  itself  far  more  with 
individual  relations  than  with  the  abstractions  which 
now  constitute  the  domain  of  philosophy.  The 
Romans  posted  their  laws  at  the  cross-roads,  and  the 
schoolmaster  was  required  once  a  month  to  take  his 
pupils  for  a  day  to  witness  the  proceedings  of  the 
judicial  tribunals.  In  the  Continental  countries  of 
Europe  the  code  is  read  in  every  public  school  once  each 
year.  In  France  special  text-books  have  been  pre- 
pared and  adopted  in  the  schools,  illustrating  the 
provisions  of  the  law,  so  as  not  only  to  bring  them  to 
the  attention,  but  also  to  impress  them  upon  the 
memory  of  every  learner.  Knowledge  of  the  con- 
ditions which  affect  the  estate  of  "infancy"  is  there 
all  but  universal. 

With  us  the  reverse  is  true,  and  not  a  few  of  the 
evils  that  afflict  our  political  and  economic  life  are 
the  result  of  a  s}'stem  of  education  which  carefully 
abstains  from   teaching  what  the  whole  body  of  our 


THE  ANTECHAMBER  TO  THE  THRONE.         4 1 

people  most  require  to  know.  So  that  even  you 
who  have  been  an  "infant"  ahnost  all  your  life, 
hardly  know  Avhen  that  relation  ended,  whether  it 
was  seriously  modified  in  character  during  its  contin- 
uance, what  were  the  limitations  it  imposed,  the 
privileges  it  gave,  the  responsibilities  it  implied,  or 
the  magnitude  of  the  change  attendant  upon  your  ac- 
cession to  the  estate  of  manhood. 

Yet  with  all  this  lack  of  knowledge  of  its  real 
character,  you  have  no  doubt,  in  common  with  your 
fellows,  been  inclined  to  consider  the  fact  of  legal 
"infancy"  a  hardship.  Now  and  then,  it  may  be, 
you  have  looked  upon  yourself  as  something  of  a 
martyr  to  an  effete  and  worthless  system,  which  holds 
its  place  only  in  the  brains  of  narrow-minded  sticklers 
for  legal  form  and  antiquated  custom.  I  am  not  sur- 
prised that  such  should  be  the  general  feeling  of  your 
associates.  Representing,  as  it  does  to  their  minds, 
only  the  deprivation  of  political  privilege,  and  a 
purely  nominal  subjection  to  parental  authority,  it  is 
hardly  strange  that  you  should  conclude  that  the  dis- 
tinction might  well  be  greatly  restricted,  and  legal  man- 
hood be  made  to  begin  several  years  earlier  or  per- 
haps be  made  dependent,  as  some  have  proposed, 
upon  intelligence  and  capacity  to  be  ascertained  by 
specific  tests. 

Practically,  you  have  no  doubt  been  lord  of  your- 
self for  several  years  at  least.  You  have  deferred  to 
your  parents'  wishes  in  most  things,  probably,  simply 

4 


42  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

from  a  proper  sense  of  duty,  and  not  at  all  from  a 
feeling  of  legal  obligation.  At  all  times  you  have 
been  at  liberty  to  leave  the  parental  roof,  go  whither- 
soever you  might  choose,  and  engage  in  any  busi- 
ness or  calling  you  might  elect,  without  apprehension 
of  any  interference  with  your  freedom  of  action  or 
the  proceeds  of  your  labor.  Enjoying  such  privileges, 
you  have,  perhaps,  thought  that  no  serious  harm 
would  have  been  likely  to  ensue  to  the  body  politic, 
if  you  had  also  been  endowed  with  the  rights  usually 
attending  their  exercise.  You  are  accustomed  to 
think  of  parental  control  as  a  thing  of  the  past.  The 
reins  by  which  you  have  been  guided  have  been  of 
such  silken  texture  that  you  have  hardly  noted  their 
restraining  influence.  Subjection  to  parental  author- 
ity, as  it  was  understood  even  a  generation  ago,  is 
now  almost  unknown.  Obedience  is  no  longer  a 
matter  of  compulsion.  The  child  is  treated  as  quite 
the  equal  of  his  elders  long  before  the  estate  of  legal 
subordination  is  ended. 

All  things  considered,  it  is  perhaps  well  that  it  is 
so.  The  relation  between  parent  and  child  has  grown 
more  intunate  and  familiar  as  a  consequence,  and 
reason  has  very  largely  usurped  the  functions  of  the 
rod.  Perhaps  there  is  not  so  much  readiness  and 
literalness  of  obedience.  If  Casabianca  had  been  an 
American  lad  of  the  present  day,  our  language  would 
probably  have  lacked  one  poetic  gem. 

It  is  customary  to  bewail   the   laxity  of  parental 


THE  ANTECHAMBER  TO  THE  THRONE.         43 

discipline  manifested  by  the  rising  generation.  For 
one,  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  apparent  lack  of  obe- 
dience quite  compensated  by  the  elimination  of  need- 
less brutality  from  our  domestic  life,  even  if  it  were 
not — as  I  believe  it  is — attended  with  a  more  general 
observance  of  the  parent's  wishes  than  was  attainable 
under  the  old  system.  This  feature  of  the  legal  es- 
tate of  "infancy"  does  not  depend  on  force.  Sub- 
jection to  the  parent's  will  was  never  the  object 
sought  by  the  law,  but  the  continuance  of  parental 
guidance — not  for  the  parent's  sake,  but  for  the  in- 
fant's advantage.  In  a  certain  sense,  the  young  man 
of  to-day  is  almost  sure  to  be  wiser  than  his  father ; 
but  there  is  another  sense  in  which  the  father's  wis- 
dom is  not  likely  to  be  superseded  by  the  acquire- 
ments of  the  son. 

You  have  no  doubt  compared  yourself,  also,  with 
many  of  those  who  exercise  the  elective  franchise,  per- 
haps even  with  those  who  are  the  visible  instruments 
of  collective  power,  and  have  sneered  at  the  law  which 
barred  you  from  the  ballot-box,  with  your  quick  in- 
telligence, your  cultured  judgment,  and  your  pure 
purpose,  and  admitted  to  that  sanctuary  of  a  people's 
sovereignty  the  ignorant,  the  debased,  and  the  corrupt. 
It  seemed  to  you  a  farce,  and,  in  one  sense,  it  is. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  so  far  as  the  training 
which  the  schools  give  is  concerned,  the  great  major- 
ity of  those  who  will  cross  the  threshold  of  manhood 
this  year  are  much  better  prepared  to  perform  the 


44  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

functions  of  citizenship  than  the  majority  of  those 
who  have  long  exercised  this  crowning  civic  privilege. 
There  is  one  thing,  however,  which  they  presumably 
and  all  but  universally  lack — one  form  of  knowledge 
that  the  law,  which,  despite  all  our  cavilings,  is  "the 
treasured  wisdom  of  the  ages,"  declares  to  be  of  more 
importance  to  the  ruler  than  all  other  wisdom,  to  wit: 

A  PRACTICAL  KNOWLEDGE  OF  LIFE. 

This  is  a  knowledge  akin  to  the  wisdom  of  God, 
since  it  is  dependent  upon  the  study  of  his  noblest 
work  in  its  most  difificult  and  abstruse  relations,  and 
is  to  be  learned  only  in  that  school  over  which  He 
presides,  where  it  is  taught  always  according  to  Di- 
vine method — the  school  of  experience.  It  is  in 
order  that  the  child  may  learn  something  in  this 
school  that  the  law  has  created  and  defined  the  estate 
and  condition  of  "infancy." 

It  is  a  pretty  conceit  which  finds  expression  in 
the  ritual  of  the  most  numerous  and  important  of 
modern  secret  benevolent  organizations,  that  the 
antechamber  is  the  place  of  preparation  for  the 
right-minded  seeker  after  knowledge.  The  legal 
estate  of  infancy  is  the  antechamber  in  which  the 
citizen  is,  or  ought  to  be,  "duly  and  truly  prepared" 
for  the  duties  of  life,  where  the  squire  waits  for  the 
accolade  which  is  to  make  him  a  knight,  the  prince 
for  the  crown  and  consecrating  oil  which  is  to  mark 
his  accession  to  kingly  privilege  and  kingly  duty. 


IV. 

SHYING  AT  A  SHADOW. 

The  sense  of  humor  which  is  all  but  universal  in 
mankind  has  transferred,  with  the  entire  approval  of 
every  one  who  reads  the  story  of  his  woes,  the  title 
assumed  by  Job's  fault-finding  friends  to  the  physical 
ailment  with  which  he  was  afflicted,  as  being  by  all 
odds  the  more  comforting  of  the  twain.  Such  a  con- 
soler is  that  "Amicus,"  who  has  written  to  protest 
against  the  course  that  has  been  adopted  in  these 
letters,  as  likely  to  give  the  young  American  too  ex- 
alted an  idea  of  the  dignity,  excellence,  and  power 
of  the  position  of  the  citizen.  This  protest  might  very 
well  be  dismissed  with  the  simple  statement  that  no 
man  was  ever  yet  injured  by  magnifying  the  dignity 
of  any  position  he  might  be  called  to  occupy,  if  a 
proper  sense  of  his  own  responsibility  attended  such 
exalted  estimate  of  its  importance.  As  a  rule,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  man  who  most  fully  appreciates  the 
dignity  of  any  position  is  the  one  most  likely  to  per- 
form its  duties  with  exactitude  and  faithfulness.  But 
"Amicus"  is  such  a  perfect  example  of  that  pessi- 
mistic  piety  which  esteems  fault-finding  an  unfailing 

45 


46  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

evidence  of  purity,  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
consider  more  at  length  hereafter,  that  I  am  glad 
indeed,  my  young  friend,  to  call  your  attention  to  his 
views,  by  laying  his  letter  before  you  in  ipsissimis 
verbis : 

THE  WORDS  OF  A  FRIEND. 

"I  suppose  I  am  one  of  those  for  whom  your  'Let- 
ters to  a  King'  are  indited.  At  least  I  have  'come  of 
age,'  to  use  the  vernacular,  and  I  suppose  I  am  a  'citizen,' 
though  it  is  long  since  I  have  exercised  any  civic  privi- 
leges. It  is  true,  this  momentous  event  did  not  occur 
yesterday,  nor  even  this  year.  I  presume,  however,  that 
I  have  none  tlie  less  right  to  count  myself  'a  man,'  ac- 
cording to  the  flattering  injunction  of  your  exordial  epistle; 
to  feel  myself  'a  king,'  according  to  the  plain  inference 
of  your  second  number;  or  regard  myself  as  no  longer  an 
'infiint, '  as  defined  by  your  third,  because  I  passed  the 
boundary-line  of  minority  some  twenty  years  ago,  have  a 
business  and  a  home  of  my  own,  and  some  of  my  own  'in- 
fants '  are  approaching  the  age  of  'adultness'  as  you 
choose  to  term  it  (though  why  you  sliould  not  use  'ma- 
jority,' or  'manhood,'  instead,  I  can  not  see). 

"  I  do  feel  myself  a  man — what  is  termed  a  practical 
man,  too — one  who  has  achieved  some  measure  of  suc- 
cess in  his  undertakings,  and  has  consequently  very  little 
regard  for  what  may  be  termed  mere  theorizing.  I  think 
I  have  a  right  to  speak  for  a  section  of  our  life  which  at 
least  has  done  no  discredit  to  the  name  American,  and  I 
wish  to  say  plainly  at  the  outset,  that  I  believe  I  express 
the  real  sentiments  of  a  great  majority  of  this  class  wlien 
I  declare   that  after  twenty  years  of  experience  I  do  not 


SHYING  AT  A  SHADOW.  47 

feel  myself  a  king,  nor  any  thing  like  a  king,  but  rather 
a  slave,  fettered,  helpless,  hopeless,  save  for  my  faith  in 
God.  To  my  mind  American  citizenship  is  a  sham. 
Our  politics  have  become  so  corrupt  that  no  decent,  self- 
respecting  man  can  take  any  part  in  public  affairs.  We 
are  governed  by  bribe-takers  and  bribe-givers,  by  igno- 
rance in  unholy  alliance  with  vice. 

"  I  do  not  believe  that  any  man  holds  a  position  of 
honor  or  trust  at  the  hands  of  the  people,  from  the  high- 
est to  the  lowest,  who  is  not  the  beneficiary,  directly  or 
indirectly,  of  fraud  or  violence  or  some  sort  of  crime 
against  another's  civic  rights.  If  he  has  not  bought  votes 
himself,  others  have  done  it  for  him;  if  he  has  not  clieated 
the  ignorant  or  deterred  the  weak,  others  have  done  it  for 
him.  These  things  have  been  done,  too,  with  his  knowl- 
edge and  consent,  for  they  are  a  part  and  parcel  of  the 
common  belief.  A  man  may  turn  his  back  and  shut  his 
eyes,  and  so  avoid  express  knowledge  of  specific  acts. 
All  the  same  he  knows  such  acts  were  perpetrated  to  se- 
cure his  elevation,  and  both  his  lionor  and  his  official 
purity  are  stained  thereby.  As  a  consequence,  not  one  in 
a  hundred,  perhaps  hardly  one  in  a  thousand,  of  those 
holding  official  st-ations  among  us,  fail  to  use  their  power 
corruptly  and  basely  to  promote  their  own  self-advantage 
or  the  prospects  of  their  party.  This  may  seem  a  '  hard 
saying,'  but  I  sincerely  believe  it  to  be  the  truth,  and  that 
the  majority  of  your  readers  will  avouch  its  verity. 

"It  is  useless  to  argue  with  good  men — Christian  men, 
who  esteem  the  common  good  above  their  own  gratifica- 
tion, I  mean — upon -this  subject.  When  we  see  merit  ig- 
nored and  fraud  exalted;  when  monopoly  grinds  and 
anarchy  threatens;  when  poverty  increases  and  fraud 
triumphs;    when  law  is    grown  too  weak  to    protect  the 


48  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

citizen  or  deter  the  criminal — at  such  a  time  it  is  folly 
to  talk  about  the  citizen-king! 

"Do  you  realize,  sir,  what  tribute  we  pay  to  the  rum 
power?  Do  you  know  what  a  tax  the  Standard  Oil 
monopoly  levies  upon  poverty?  Have  you  noted  how 
the  poor  are  multiplying,  and  how  the  wealth  of  the 
rich  increases  while  their  numbers  proportionately  de- 
crease? Have  you  noted  the  'prisoners  of  poverty,' 
herding  and  swarming  in  the  great  cities  where  one- 
fifth  of  our  population  is  found  ?  Have  you  observed 
that  even  in  the  very  journals  where  your  articles  are 
published  there  is  a  standing  advertisement  calling  upon 
Christian  men  and  women  to  contribute  a  fund  to  se- 
cure the  conviction  of  the  murderer  of  a  Christian 
minister  wlio  dared  oppose  the  rule  of  rum  ? 

"In  the  face  of  these  results  of  self-government,  I 
submit  that  it  is  time  to  stop  boasting  of  American  citi- 
zenship, or  magnifying  old-fogy  notions  of  government 
and  life.  For  my  part — and  I  believe  I  represent  nine- 
tenths  of  the  honest,  Godfearing  men  and  women  in  the 
land,  the  fathers  and  mothers  who  are  really  the  ones 
who  will  read  your  letters  and  feel  something  of  the 
vague  old  aspiration  for  the  common  welfare  and  trust 
in  the  common  honesty  which  so  long  delayed  our  pres- 
ent sad  condition — I  say  for  my  part,  in  view  of  all 
these  things,  I  would  be  quite  willing  to  surrender  my 
'kingship' — the  glory  and  dignity  of  self-government,  as 
you  term  it — to  any  form  of  government  that  would  cure 
these  evils  or  even  restrain  their  growth.  The  safety  of  the 
future  is  worth  more  than  the  glorification  of  the  past  or 
the  gratification  of  the  present.  I  would  rather  think  that 
my  children  will  be  saved  from  the  anarchy  and  de- 
moralization   that     impends     than    have     my    self-pride 


SHYING  AT  A  SHADOW.  49 

inflated  by  contemplation  of  my  individual  beatitude  as 
a  citizen-king!  I  know  this  may  seem  like  political 
heresy;  but  I  think  that  so  far  as  justice,  right,  public 
honor,  and  private  morals  are  concerned,  self-government 
has  proved  a  faikire. 

"For  myself,  I  have  so  long  lost  hope  that  I  have  not 
even  exercised  the  right  of  suffrage  for  many  years;  and 
fur  years  before  that  time  did  not  do  so  without  feeling 
myself  a  slave,  chained  to  the  chariot  of  an  infamously 
corrupt  and  debauched  party  system.  I  felt  that  though 
I  might  be  personally  incorrupt,  my  vote  was  bought  and 
sold  for  another's  benefit,  and  that  I  was  powerless  to 
prevent  such  a  result. 

"  Feeling  as  I  do,  I  do  not  want  to  hear  any  thing  more 
about  politics,  political  duty,  or  political  privilege.  The 
Church  still  remains.  God  alone  is  the  refuge  of  those  who 
have  lost  faith  in  human  virtue  and  human  devices.  I 
am  willing  to  give  up  the  task  of  government  into  His 
hands,  satisfied  that  only  by  divine  direction  and  control 
can  it  be  well  performed.  I  do  not  know  how  it  will  be 
effected,  but  I  look  for  some  power  to  arise  that  shall  do 
the  will  of  God — some  form  of  government  which  shall  do 
away  with  the  shams  and  falsehoods  of  our  present  polit- 
ical system,  and  put  power  in  the  hands  of  good  men  and 
wise  men  only,  who  will  use  it  for  the  common  benefit, 
and  leave  the  pure  currents  of  our  common  life  uncor- 
rupted  and  undefiled  by  the  contaminating  and  degrading 
influences  and  unwholesome  fevers  of  politics. 

"The  young  men  of  today — '  the  uncrowned  kings  of 
to-morrow,'  whom  you  address — understand  these  things 
just  as  well  as  you  and  I.  They  know  that  there  are  but 
three  courses  open  before  them.  They  must  either  be 
slaves  or  dealers  in  slaves,  or  neuters  who  eschew  politics. 

5 


50  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

Party  'bosses'  great  and  small,  and  party  slaves  more  or 
less  abject — these  are  our  political  forces.  Outside  of 
these  classes  are  a  few  men,  brave  enough  and  strong 
enough  to  stand  alone.  Some  of  them  protest  against 
the  shame  and  infamy  of  the  situation,  and  some  are 
too  proud  or  too  weak,  or  perhaps  too  sorrowful,  even 
to  protest.  They  only  stand  and  wait — wait  for  nothing 
it  may  be ;  but  they  at  least  avoid,  by  so  doing,  personal 
responsibility  for  the  crime  and  dishonor  that  is  destroy- 
ing our  life. 

**  What  is  the  sense  in  requiring  an  educated  American 
to  wait  twenty-one  years  before  allowing  him  to  vote, 
while  a  foreigner  who  can  not  read  or  write,  secures  the 
same  privileges  in  five  years,  even  if  he  is  so  unfortunate 
as  not  to  find  his  naturalization  papers,  and  the  pay  for 
his  first  vote,  waiting  for  him  when  he  lands  at  Castle 
Garden  ? 

"Wherein  lies  the  great  advantage  in  being  a  citizen 
without  power  rather  than  an  infant  without  rights  ?  I  con- 
fess I  can  not  see  that  the  change  from  one  condition  to 
the  other  is  so  very  great.  In  the  one  case  you  are 
without  rights,  and  in  the  other  without  responsibility. 
An  infant  is  legally  a  slave  by  virtue  of  the  lawj  a  citizen 
is  simply  one  enslaved  without  law.  That  is  all  the 
difference.  One  is  a  child  to  whose  crying  nobody  pays 
attention;  the  other,  one  that  is  given  a  rattle  to  keep  it 
still.  What  is  the  use  of  gilding  this  bauble — theorizing 
about  this  toy?" 

So  says  "  Amicus.  *'  He  is  very  much  in  earnest. 
He  esteems  himself  a  good  man,  and  desires  every 
one  to  be  informed  of  that  fact.  He  believes  that 
all  who  do  not  agree  with  him  in  doctrine  are  "  mere 


SHYING  AT  A  SHADOW.  5  I 

theorizers,"  and  that  all  who  do  not  concur  with  him 
in  practice  are  corrupt.  The  good  people  are  with 
him ;  the  bad  people  are  on  the  other  side.  These 
good  people,  he  would  have  us  understand,  have 
already  determined  that  the  only  thing  to  be  done  to 
cure  the  ills  he  delineates,  is  to  do  nothing — just  leave 
it  to  the  Lord,  and  let  him  do  as  he  sees  fit.  No 
doubt  the  Lord  will  take  his  own  course,  whether 
such  as  ^^  Amicus''  give  him  leave  or  not;  but  most 
unfortunately  for  the  consolation  which  he  administers 
to  himself  with  such  solemn  unction,  God  works  His 
will  in  human  affairs  by  human  instrumentalities,  and 
the  man  who  sitnply  sits  still  and  cries,  "  Hands  ofif! 
leave  this  matter  to  the  Lord !"  is  merely  the  devil's 
chosen  instrument  of  evil. 

The  future  "  Amicjis"  draws  is  a  very  dark  one. 
That  it  is  altogether  incorrect,  few  will  care  to  aver. 
If  but  half  of  what  he  implies  be  true,  it  establishes 
beyond  question  a  very  bad  state  of  affairs.  Has  he 
ever  paused  in  his  denunciation  of  others  to  consider 
who  is  responsible  for  this  condition  of  affairs  and  this 
state  of  public  sentiment? 

He  says  he  is  a  "practical"  man.  He  has  been 
successful.  He  has  accumulated  tangible  assets.  He 
has  little  patience  with  "mere  theorizing."  He 
would  have  us  understand  that  he  is  a  model,  after 
whom  it  would  be  well  if  others  were  patterned.  He 
is  afraid. young  men  will  be  injured  by  being  taught 
that  they  are  kings.     Has  he  ever  thought  what  must 


52  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

be  the  natural  result  of  teaching  them  that  they  are 
"hopeless  and  irresponsible  slaves?" 

He  wishes  to  hear  nothing  more  of  "politics  "  and 
political  duty.  Political  affairs  are  so  bad  that  nobody 
but  God  can  improve  them,  and  he  is  almost  angry  that 
any  one  should  be  willing  to  be  God's  instrument  in 
a  task  he  apparently  thinks  almost  beyond  divine 
power.  He  evidently  deems  himself  a  valiant  Christian 
soldier;  and  so  he  may  be — on  parade.  He  is  a  fierce 
Ezekiel  in  his  denunciation  of  political  wrongs,  and 
no  doubt  thinks  himself  a  faultless  citizen.  He  neither 
robs  nor  murders ;  he  neither  bribes  nor  accepts  a 
bribe ;  he  is  responsible  neither  for  monopolj''  nor 
anarchy,  nor  the  resulting  ills  of  either.  Happy 
" Amicus  f  He  and  such  as  he  are  the  only  pure 
and  brave  men  in  the  land ! 

Let  me  be  his  Nathan  and  say  to  him: 

"  Thou  art  the  man!" 

Because  such  men  as  he  have  lived  to  scold,  and 
fume,  and  failed  to  do,  proclaiming  themselves  all  the 
time  the  best  and  purest  in  the  land — because  such 
as  he  have  not  earnestly  and  valoiously  contended 
for  the  right — all  these  evils  he  has  depicted  have 
come  to  us.  What  he  so  bitterly  denounces  to  day, 
he  and  such  as  he  might  have  prevented  yesterday. 
They  had  the  power;  the  scepter  was  in  their  hands; 
and  the  evil  of  to-day  is  but  the  natural  fruit  of  their 
negligence  and  apathy.  The  king  who  fails  to  govern 
righteously  leaves  always  an   inheritance   of  woe  to 


SHYING  AT  A  SHADO W.  53 

his  successor.  It  is  because  such  as  he  Hve  and  boast 
and  denounce  the  evils  they  will  not  help  to  cure, 
but  declare  to  be  hopeless — it  is  because  these  are 
so  many,  that  I  must  strive  to  awaken  and  inspire 
the  rising  generation  to  do  rather  than  scold,  to 
fight  rather  than  despair.  If  he  had  been  a  king  in- 
stead of  a  coward,  a  doer  instead  of  a  shirk,  there 
would  have  been  no  need  to  urge  the  young  man  of 
today  to  devote  himself  to  the  cause  of  good 
government,  to  become  an  active  force  in  Christian 
civilization. 

There  has  never  been  a  day  nor  an  hour  in  the 
history  of  any  State  or  city  of  the  land  when  those 
claiming  to  be  the  especial  representatives  of  its  best 
forces — its  Christian  citizens — might  not  have  con- 
trolled its  politics.  Instead  of  performing  their  plain 
duty,  such  men  as  '^Amicus''  stood  quietly  by  and  let 
evil  intrench  itself,  not  only  in  "  high  places,"  but  even 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Nay,  they  are  not  con- 
tent to  see  our  social  and  political  life  imperiled  by 
their  selfish  apathy,  but  they  even  desire  to  destroy 
all  hope  of  its  amendment.  They  would  kill  "not 
only  the  life  that  now  is,  but  that  which  is  to  come!" 
Knowing  the  right,  they  prefer  to  see  evil  abound 
rather  than  labor  for  its  overthrow.  Such  men  are 
infinitely  the  worst  of  all  the  dangerous  classes  of  02ir 
population,  and  shoidd  be  so  held  by  all  zvho  believe 
the  will  of  God  to  mean  the  good  of  men.  They  are 
cowards  who  seek  to  hide  their  cowardice  by  boasting 


54  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

of  their  purity ;  the  stragglers  and  shirks,  who  de- 
nounce the  battle  others  are  fighting  for  their  ad- 
vantage. They  constitute  the  greatest  peril  of  repub- 
lican government  to-day! 

This  is  how  a  "mere  theorizer"  esteems  a 
"practical"  Pharisee  like  ''Amicus.'' 

We  are  indebted  to  ''Amiens''  for  one  thing,  how- 
ever. He  shows  how  well  it  is  to  be  careful  of  the 
foundations  on  which  we  build.  He  wonders  why  we 
dwell  on  the  transformation  from  "infant"  to  "adult," 
and  then  defines  the  infant  to  be  a  person  "without 
any  rights,"  and  the  citizen  a  being  "without  power 
or  responsibility."  It  is  precisely  because  this  view 
is  a  common  one  that  we  have  taken  some  pains  to 
elucidate  the  truth  that  the  "  infant"  is  7ioi  "without 
rights,"  as  we  expect  to  show  that  the  citizen  is  7iever 
"without  responsibility."  He  wonders  why  we  use 
the  terms  "infant"  and  "adult,"  and  "infancy" 
and  "adultness,"  instead  of  "minority"  and  "ma- 
jority." Simply  because  they  import  the  whole, 
while  those  which  he  prefers  define  onl}'  a  part  of  the 
contrasted  relations. 

If  you  have  noted  their  Latin  roots,  my  young 
friend,  you  will  see  how  perfectly  these  terms  are 
suited  to  the  conditions  they  are  used  to  describe. 
"Infant"  (from  infari)  implies  an  inability  to  make 
known  one's  wants  by  speech,  while  "adult"  (from 
adolescere)  signifies  growth,  maturity — the  product  of 


SHYING  AT  A  SHADO W.  55 

the  state  of  adolescence.  Neither  is  concerned  with 
the  question  of  power,  but  merely  describes  the  con- 
ditions of  a  particular  phase  of  existence.  "  Citizen- 
ship" is  but  a  part  of  "adultness;"  "minority"  is 
only  one  of  the  disabilities  of  "  infancy." 

Instead  of  depriving  the  "infant"  of  his  rights, 
the  law  is  especially  careful  of  them.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  it  counts  him  an  infant,  and  refuses  to 
hear  him  speak.  Only  by  the  mouth  of  a  "next 
friend,"  one  presumably  older  and  wiser,  will  it  listen 
to  his  plea,  except  when  charged  with  crime.  Up 
to  a  certain  limit  it  will  not  even  allow  him  to  be 
so  charged ;  then  there  follows  an  interval  during 
which  the  evil  intent  must  be  affirmatively  shown; 
after  which  he  finally  arrives  at  full  responsibility, 
with  the  law's  presumption  of  malice  lying  always 
against  his  wrongful  acts.  So,  too,  his  business 
development  is  gradual.  He  may  be  a  witness 
when  he  can  not  be  an  actor;  an  agent  when  he 
can  not  be  a  principal.  He  can  bind  another  in 
whose  employ  he  is,  by  his  declarations,  but  the  law 
will  not  hear  his  words  intended  to  bind  himself. 
The  law  makes  him  subordinate  to  the  parent  and 
the  teacher,  but  allows  the  parent  to  release  him 
from  subjection  by  formal  act  or  reasonable  implica- 
tion. The  law  permits  him  to  contract  marriage 
under  certain  restrictions,  but  will  only  hear  his  plea 
for  dissolution  of  that  bond  by  the  mouth  of  another. 

The    absurdity    which    impresses    ''Amicus''   as 


56  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

existing  between  the  twenty-one  years  of  infancy  and 
a  lesser  period  for  naturalization,  disappears  when  we 
thus  see  that  "  infancy  "  is  not  a  mere  condition  pre- 
cedent of  citizenship,  but  a  period  of  growth,  develop- 
ment, and  preparation  for  manhood.  You  may  think 
such  growth  unnecessary,  and  say  that  "knowledge  is 
power."  So  it  is,  but  science  is  not  all  of  knowl- 
edge; and  fact  is  not  power.  There  is  a  knowledge 
which  is  hard  to  define.  We  term  it  sometimes 
knowledge  of  life,  sometimes  knowledge  of  men.  It 
distinguishes  between  youth  and  manhood,  between 
immaturity  and  ripeness.  It  marks  even  more  cer- 
tainly than  any  physical  condition  the  fact  of  incom- 
pleteness. Thus  far  no  method  for  acquiring  this 
has  been  found  but  by  the  lapse  of  time.  It  is 
taught  only  in  the  school  of  experience.  And  it  is 
in  order  that  you  might  not  be  tempted  to  forego 
this  education ;  that  you  might  easily  and  surely 
acquire  this  knowledge ;  that  you  might  not  be 
inclined  to  undertake  life's  weightier  matters  until 
the  thews  of  mind  and  soul  are  toughened  for  the 
strain ;  that  you  might  have  full  opportunity  to  learn 
your  privilege's,  comprehend  your  duties,  and  under- 
stand your  powers, — because  of  these  things,  the  law 
mercifully  regarded  you  as  one  mute  to  its  demands, 
irresponsible  to  your  fellows,  and  powerless  to  shape 
the  course  of  public  events. 

It  was  deaf  alike  to  your  ambition  and  your  greed. 
It  demanded  of  you   only  growth  and   preparation. 


SHYING  AT  A  SHADOW.  57 

When  this  was  ended,  or  was  presumed  to  have  ended, 
the  door  of  opportunity  swung  wide  before  you. 
You  became  a  man.  Was  the  probation  any  too 
long?  Curiously  enough,  you  will  find  upon  investi- 
gation that  almost  all  of  those  who  have  left  great 
names  in  history,  who  have  colored  the  world's 
life  or  flexed  the  world's  thought,  are  those  whose 
period  of  probation,  of  silent,  unnoted  preparation, 
have  extended  far  beyond  this  limit.  Especially  in 
this  age,  when  the  tendency  to  overaction  and  swift 
decay  is  so  great,  let  no  young  man  bemoan  the 
delay  of  life's  responsibilities. 

But  if  this  transition  from  infant  to  adult  is  of 
vast  importance  in  the  ordinary  relations  of  life,  what 
shall  be  said  of  it  in  that  most  responsible  and  most 
comprehensive  of  all,  your  relations  to  the  whole 
body  of  your  fellow-citizens — that  relation  on  which 
all  other  relations  depend  ?  Yesterday  you  were 
a  subject ;  to-day  you  are  a  king.  Can  you  measure 
the  distance  between? 


V. 

A  JOINT  AND  SEVERAL  LIABIIvlTY. 

I  SHALL  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  you,  in 
common  with  almost  the  whole  body  of  your  well- 
educated  compeers,  are  inclined  to  take  issue  with 
me  upon  the  concluding  sentiment  of  my  last  letter. 
It  is  a  curious  fact  that  of  the  little  we  are  taught 
about  our  civic  relations,  the  greater  portion  is  false 
and  misleading.  It  will  be  nothing  strange,  there- 
fore, if  the  views  which  I  shall  formulate  should  be 
somewhat  at  variance  with  those  you  have  come  to 
entertain.  Prosperity  and  opportunity  are  certain  to 
wean  men  from  the  consideration  of  public  duty,  and 
the  past  twenty  years  have  been  more  notable  for 
the  invention  of  devices  to  avoid  the  responsibility 
of  self-government  than  the  manifestation  of  a  general 
willingness  to  meet  it.  What  the  American  people 
seem  now  most  anxious  to  discover  is  not  how  the 
duty  of  the  citizen  may  be  best  performed,  but  how 
it  may  be  safely  neglected. 

Though  we  have  had  more  than  a  hundred  years 
of  experience  of  republican  institutions,  so  far  as  the 
relations,  duties,  and  responsibilities  of  the  citizen 
58 


A  JOINT  AND  SEVERAL  LIABILITY.  59 

are  concerned,  we  are  still,  as  Madison  phrased  it, 
"in  the  twihght  of  constitutional  government."  Our 
government,  in  spirit  even  more  than  in  form,  was 
just  as  much  a  discovery  as  that  which  Columbus 
made  when  he  first  sighted  the  shores  of  the  new 
world.  Nations  had  been  called  republics  before ; 
but  in  the  sense  which  we  have  impressed  upon  the 
word  there  had  never  been  a  republic  of  any  con- 
siderable extent.  Indeed,  it  is  clearly  apparent  to 
one  who  will  study  with  a  discriminating  mind  the 
history  of  the  first  quarter  of  a  century  of  our  na- 
tional life,  that  our  forefathers  themselves  had  no 
very  clear  perceptions  of  a  republic  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  term.  In  what  Randolph  so  aptly 
aptly  termed  "  the  infancy  of  the  science  of  constitu- 
tions," it  was  yet  believed  that  the  ancient  lines 
might  be  followed  in  the  creation  of  the  new  republic. 
It  was  supposed  that  the  column  of  American  liberty' 
would  be  a  mere  composite.  The  English  plinth 
was  to  be  surmounted  by  a  Graeco  Roman  shaft, 
having  a  capital  embracing  something  of  the  elements 
of  all  ancient  democracies,  intermingled  with  a  i^w 
indigenous  notions  which  were  expected  always  to 
remain  subordinate  to  the  imported  ideas. 

In  pursuance  of  this  principle  we  have,  in  theory 
*at  least,  and  so  far  as  mere  sciolists  could  determine 
our  tendencies,  ever  since  been  trying  to  import  im- 
provements of  our  original  plan,  instead  of  encourag- 
ing its   healthful   growth   and    natural    development. 


6o  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

We  have  studiously  imparted  to  each  new  generation 
the  notion  that  all  that  is  of  value  in  our  American 
system  of  government  is  borrowed  from  some  foreign 
source.  The  Anglomaniac  in  politics  has  been  as 
disgusting  in  his  slavish  subjection  to  an  imported 
ideal  as  the  "dude"  in  fashion,  and  infinitely  more 
harmful  than  the  counterfeit  cockney  could  possibly 
be.  In  truth,  we  borrowed  from  our  English  history 
only  a  few  names  and  forms.  Even  these  we  en- 
dowed with  new  significance,  just  as  we  established 
our  government  on  an  absolutely  new  basis  wliile 
classing  it  under  the  ancient  name  of  a  republic. 

The  fundamental  idea  of  British  government  is  a 
careful  avoidance  of  the  principle  of  equal  civic 
right.  It  is  true  there  has  been  a  constant  progres- 
sion toward  it,  as  there  must  be  with  all  enlightened 
peoples;  but  all  the  mechanism  of  the  English 
government,  under  every  change  of  policy,  has  been 
designed  to  hinder  rather  than  to  promote  this  tend- 
ency. This  very  idea  which  has  been  the  bete  noire 
of  Whig  and  Tory  alike,  and  is  now  the  "unclean 
beast"  which  even  the  Liberals  are  afraid  to  mount, 
is  the  basis  principle  of  our  government.  We 
builded  upon  the  rights  of  men  rather  than  the  rights 
of  things — not  private  rights,  but  public  privileges. 
Instead  of  seeking  to  avoid  the  popular  will,  we 
sought  to  devise  machinery  for  its  clear  and  unmis- 
takable expression.  The  English  principle  of  j^ov- 
ernment  is   based  upon  a  careful  adjustment  of  class 


A  JOINT  AND  SEVERAL  LIABILITY.  6 1 

interests;  ours  upon  the  joint  and  several  re- 
sponsibility and  equal  power  and  privilege  of  indi- 
viduals. The  two  ideas  are  utterly  inharmonious, 
and  the  nearer  we  approach  the  model  our  mod- 
ern political  abstractionists  have  attempted  to  set 
up  for  us,  the  farther  we  are  going  away  from  the 
true  principles  which  have  underlain  our  century  of 
progress.  The  safety  of  the  future  does  not  depend 
upon  the  approximation  of  our  government  to  foreign 
ideals,  but  in  effectual  appeal  to  its  fundamental 
principles,  and  in  faithful  and  logical  expansion  of 
its  distinctive  ideas. 

Of  this  fact  those  who  claim  to  rank  as  authorita- 
tive expounders  of  our  political  philosophy  have  been 
curiously  unconscious.  It  is  notable  that  nearly  all 
of  them  have  been  mere  theorists — men  who  have 
looked  at  our  political  life  from  the  outside,  and 
have  sought  to  devise  remedies  for  ills  they  but 
half  understood,  or  to  adjust  mechanism,  the  motive 
power  of  which  they  seem  unable  to  apprehend. 
When  we  fully  realize  this  fact  we  shall  not  be  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  almost  every  grave  political  evil 
which  has  confronted  us  in  the  past  has  arisen,  not 
from  the  natural  and  unobstructed  working  of  the 
American  system,  but  from  foolish  attempts  to  graft 
upon  it  alien  ideas.  The  truth  is,  that  in  our  polit- 
ical history  new  principles  have  so  completely 
dwarfed  and  overshadowed  old  theories  and  borrowed 
forms,  and    so  clothed  old  terms   with    new  signifi- 


62  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

cance,  that  the  whole  fabric  has  become  unique  ;  so 
that  analogies  drawn  from  the  experience  of  other 
countries  become  for  us  the  most  dangerous  of  all 
political  speculations. 

The  first  duty  of  one  who  would  truly  compre- 
hend our  national  life,  therefore,  is  to  clear  away 
this  mass  of  false  speculation  and  foolish  theory. 
Instead  of  trying  to  fit  our  new-world  life  with  the 
cast-off  clothing  of  old-world  relations,  we  must  begin 
to  realize  the  fact  that  we  are  teachers,  and  not 
learners,  in  the  science  of  self-government;  that  we 
are  the  torch-bearers,  and  not  groping  followers  along 
the  path  of  political  progress.  It  becomes  us  to  de- 
velop theories  and  demonstrate  truths,  and  not  to 
borrow  half  developed  notions  and  try  to  fetter  our 
new  life  with  their  limitations.  By  so  doing  we  have 
already  clouded  our  political  thought  with  assump- 
tions based  on  forms  of  expression  so  imperfectly 
apprehended  as  to  make  the  conclusions  drawn  from 
them,  in  the  main,  absolutely  unreliable.  Among 
the  least  understood  of  political  terms  is  the  word 
"citizen,"  in  its  strictly  American  signification. 
Thus  it  happens  that  you  no  doubt  deem  both 
phases  of  my  statement — that  you  were  yesterday  a 
subject  and  are  to-day  a  king — if  not  actually  incor- 
rect, at  least  only  metaphorically  true. 

Yet  I  had  no  intention  of  resorting  to  verbal  sub- 
terfuge. I  meant  deliberately  and  positively  to  assert 
that  your  relation  to  the  United   States  and  to  the 


A  JOINT  AND  SEVERAL  LIABILITY.  63 

State  in  which  you  live  was  but  recently  that  of  a 
subject,  and  is  to-day  that  of  a  ruler.  You  will, 
perhaps,  be  inclined  to  tell  me  that  this  is  impos- 
sible. You  have  been  carefully  taught  that  "the 
people  of  a  republic  are  citizens,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  a  monarchy,  subjects."  As  you  have  not  changed 
your  residence  it  is  evident,  therefore,  that  you  can 
not  have  figured  in  both  rdles.  This  is  the  general 
view,  and  one  by  no  means  without  recognized  au- 
thority. Yet  when  we  come  to  investigate  the  ques- 
tion, we  shall  find  that  the  real  distinction  between 
"subject  "  and  "  citizen  "  does  not  lie  in  the  fact  of 
domicile  nor  depend  on  allegiance  being  due  to  a 
monarchy  in  the  one  case,  and  a  republic  in  the  other, 
but  on  the  relation  which  the  individual  sustains  to 
the  sovereign  power. 

There  is  a  singular  defect  in  the  definition  of 
these  terms  by  authorities,  both  legal  and  etymo- 
logical. This  is  probably  due,  in  part,  to  the  fact 
that  the  specific  difference  between  "citizen"  and 
"subject"  has  never  yet  been  made  a  matter  of 
sharp  contention  in  any  national  or  international 
tribunal,  and  in  part  to  the  generally  unrecogtu'zed 
fact  that  our  political  history  has  impressed  upon  one 
at  least  of  these  terms  a  new  and  peculiar  signifi- 
cance. "Subject"  is  defined  as  "one  brought 
under  authority,"  "one  owing  allegiance."  or  "one 
owing  permanent  allegiance."  This  latter  definition 
Great  Britain  insisted  upon  as  the  basis  of  her  right 


64  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

to  search  American  vessels  for  British  subjects,  which 
gave  rise  to  the  War  of  1812,  It  has  been  practically 
abandoned.  It  will  be  observed,  however,  that 
neither  of  these  fully  defines  the  relation  of  the  sub- 
ject to  the  sovereign,  which  is  a  mutual  one.  The 
"subject"  is  one  not  only  owing  allegiance  to  a 
sovereign,  but  one  entitled  to  protection  by  the  sov- 
ereign. This  is  the  entire  relation — obedience  and 
allegiance  on  the  part  of  the  individual,  and  protec- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  sovereign.  This  is  exactly 
identical  with  the  relation  which  women  and  infants 
sustain  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  and 
its  constituent  commonwealths.  They  owe  obedience 
and  allegiance,  and  are  entitled  to  protection  in  their 
private  rights — that  is  all.  They  have  none  of  the 
public  rights  which  go  to  make  what  we  call  citizen- 
ship in  the  strictly  American  sense.  Some  would 
perhaps  include  in  this  category  "  Indians  not  taxed," 
but  it  is  a  matter  of  grave  doubt  whether  tliey  are 
even  "subjects."  To  a  certain  extent  we  claim  the 
right  to  exercise  restrictive  power  over  them,  but  have 
never  recognized  any  right  to  protection  on  their  part. 
Unnaturalized  foreigners — resident  aliens,  as  they 
are  legally  termed — owe  obedience,  but  not  alle- 
giance. They  are  neither  citizens  nor  subjects. 
They  can  claim  the  protection  of  our  laws  only  while 
within  the  national  limits,  and  then  only  in  a  re- 
stricted sense.  They  must  obey  the  law,  but  are  not 
required  to  enforce  or  maintain  its  authority.     As  to 


A  JOINT  AND  SEVERAL  LIABILITY.  65 

native-born  women  and  infants,  however,  and  the 
wives  and  children  of  naturalized  foreigners,  they 
sustain  precisely  the  same  relations  to  our  govern- 
ment, whether  at  home  or  abroad,  that  the  subjects 
of  a  monarchical  government  sustain  to  the  throne. 
So  you  will  see  that  it  was  neither  in  jest  nor  meta- 
phor that  I  declared  you,  although  a  native  of  the 
great  republic,  to  have  been  but  recently  a  "sub- 
ject"— an  American  subject,  if  you  will. 

It  may  be  a  matter  of  interest — perhaps  of  sur- 
prise— to  you  to  know,  also,  that  our  American 
"subjects"  greatly  outnumber  our  American  "citi- 
zens." In  1880,  out  of  50,150,000  people,  the 
males  of  all  classes,  twenty-one  years  old  and  up- 
ward, numbered  12,830,000.  Of  these  it  would  prob- 
ably not  be  an  overestimate  to  regard  the  830,000  as 
representing  the  unnaturalized  adult  males  of  the 
7,000,000  of  foreign-born  and  Indians  included  in 
the  enumeration.  So  that  we  may  safely  say  that 
three-fourths  of  the  population  of  the  United  States 
are  simply  "subjects,"  owing  obedience  to  its  laws 
and  allegiance  to  its  power  and  entitled  to  the  pro- 
tection of  its  authority,  but  having  no  more  right  or 
power  to  shape  or  modify  its  character  or  control 
the  exercise  of  its  authority  than  if  dwellers  on 
another  planet.  They  are  not  "citizens"  in  the 
more  restricted  sense  of  the  term,  having  no  particle 
of  civic  power  or  privilege  beyond  that  pertaining  to 
the  subjects  of  every  civilized  monarchy. 


66  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

But  what  of  the  other  one-fourth  of  our  popula- 
tion ?  Was  it  a  flattering  metaphor  to  term  them 
kings?  Let  us  see.  The  term  citizen  has  been  used 
with  a  great  variety  of  meaning.  It  originally  in- 
dicated the  possessor  of  peculiar  municipal  privilege 
or  power.  On  account  of  this,  having  no  distinctive 
term  to  represent  the  specific  status  of  tliat  fourth 
part  of  our  population  who  exercise  political  power, 
we  call  them,  in  contradistinction  to  the  others, 
citizens.  The  broadest  use  of  this  term  that  is  sanc- 
tioned by  our  law  is  the  definition  found  in  the  first 
section  of  the  fourteenth  article  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.      It  is  as  follows: 

"All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United 
States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  and  of  the  States  wherein 
they  reside." 

In  this  sense  it  is  precisely  equivalent  to  the 
term  "subject,"  the  term  "jurisdiction"  being  used 
in  international  law  in  the  sense  of  owing  alle- 
giance to  and  being  entitled  to  protection  from  a  par- 
ticular nationality.  It  has  a  like  significance  in  the 
second  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  same  in- 
strument. The  term  was  no  doubt  first  used  in  this 
sense  in  order  to  emphasize  the  separation  from  the 
mother  country.  It  was  intended  to  differentiate  be- 
tween the  "subjects  of  Great  Britain,"  which  was 
the  previous  condition  of  the  people  of  the  Colonies, 
and  the  equivalent  relation  they  had  assumed  to  the 


A  JOINT  AND  SEVERAL  LIABILITY.  6y 

new  nationality.  From  this  sprang  the  ordinary  dis- 
tinction that  the  people  of  a  republic  are  "citizens" 
and  those  of  a  monarchy  "subjects,"  on  which  is 
based  the  idea  that  there  is  of  necessity  some  spe- 
cific difference  in  the  two  relations.  The  continued 
use  of  the  term  with  this  significance  became  a  polit- 
ical necessity,  because  we  had  among  us  a  class  who 
were  denied  even  the  ordinary  rights  of  subjects. 
The  very  purpose  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment 
was  to  secure  to  the  negro  the  rights  of  a  subject. 
Tins  is  at  once  apparent  when  we  note  the  fact 
that  it  especially  provides  for  his  exclusion  from  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  "citizenship"  in  the  more 
restricted  sense  of  that  term. 

In  this  restricted  and  peculiarly  American  sense, 
the  word  citizen  has  been  very  tersely  and  exactly 
defined  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
to  be 

"  One  of  the   sovereign  people,  a   constituent  member  of 

THE    SOVEREIGNTY."* 

Every  young  American  should  impress  these  two 
definitions  of  a  term  so  apt  to  be  used  in  different 
senses  upon  his  memory  with  the  utmost  care.  In 
the  one  sense  it  is  used  to  distinguish  the  American 
people  from  the  allegiants  of  a  foreign  power;  in  the 
other  to  distinguish  the  class  in  which  sovereignty 
inheres  from  the  rest  of  the  American  people. 

*i9th  Howard,  404. 


68  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

This  is  the  basic  distinction  of  our  American 
political  system.  It  is  not,  therefore,  by  any  figure 
of  speech,  nor  from  any  desire  to  appeal  to  your 
vanity,  that  I  have  addressed  you  as  a  king  ;  but 
simply  because  you  are,  in  serious  truth,  one  of  those 
in  whom  the  sovet'eignty  of  the  nation  resides !  The 
very  thing  that  distinguishes  the  monarch  from  his 
subjects  distinguishes  you  from  three-fourths  of  the 
American  people — the  power  to  make  and  unmake, 
to  bind  and  loose,  without  review  or  modification  by 
any  other  power  !  In  you  resides  one  aliquot  part  of 
the  supreme  will  of  the  nation,  from  whose  decision 
there  is  no  appeal !  The  fate  of  sixty  millions  of 
people  and  the  destiny  of  their  descendants  are  in  your 
hands!  As  an  individual,  even  now  you  are  a  "sub- 
ject of  the  law."  You  labor,  enjoy,  hold,  possess, 
and  exist,  as  a  ^'subject."  As  a  ''citizen,''  you  rule, 
govern,  and  decree.  The  emblem  of  sovereignty  is 
upon  your  brow !  The  scepter  is  in  your  hands, 
the  responsibility  upon  your  soul!  The  American 
citizen  is  not  merely  a  potential,  but  an  actual  king. 
He  is  the  ruler  and  controller  of  a   people's   destiny. 

Your  responsibility  as  such  is  not  in  any  degree 
lessened  by  the  fact  that  the  sovereign  is  not  a  single 
individual,  but  twelve  millions.  Your  thought,  your 
will,  your  conviction,  and  your  honesty  constitute  an 
essential  increment  of  the  aggregated  sovereignty. 
"  We,  the  People,"  is  the  royal  style  by  which  your 
acts  are   affirmed  !     They   who  legislate   speak  with 


A  JOINT  AND  SEVERAL  LIABILITY.  6g 

your  voice  !  Those  who  execute  the  law,  perform 
your  will.  "  By  the  grace  of  God,"  the  wisdom  of 
the  fathers,  and,  above  all,  by  that  gradual  and  un- 
noted growth  by  which  the  American  nation  has  been 
unconsciously  shaped  into  a  singular  distinctiveness 
of  political  character,  you  have  become  jointly  and 
severally  liable,  with  every  other  of  the  class  to  which 
you  belong,  not  for  a  specific  part,  but  for  the  char- 
acter of  the  whole  indivisible  sovereign  power. 
There  is,  however,  one  great  difference  between  you 
and  the  hereditary  monarch — the  Citizen-king  can 

NOT  ABDICATE, 


VI. 

A  PERPETUAL  COVENANT. 

I  FANCY  that  I  hear  you  ask,  with  some  asperity 
of  manner,  if  by  the  statement,  "The  citi7en-king  can 
not  abdicate,"  I  mean  that  you  are  required  to  "go 
into  pohtics"  whether  you  desire  to  do  so  or  not. 
You  wish  to  know  whether  I  mean  to  intimate  that, 
if  you  do  not  care  to  undertake  the  task  of  govern- 
ment, you  can  not  step  aside  and  leave  it  to  others 
who  have  a  taste  for  it.  You  may  even  assert  with 
some  heat  that,  if  this  be  true,  instead  of  being  a  free 
government,  our  American  RepubUc  is  the  most 
atrocious  tyranny  ever  invented. 

Softly,  softly,  my  young  friend.  Liberty  is  not 
the  mere  indulgence  of  inclination.  In  a  certain 
sense  a  man  is  free  to  do  or  not  to  do  the  duty  of 
the  citizen  as  he  pleases;  just  as  he  is  free  to  do  or 
not  to  do  any  other  duty — ^just  as  he  may  be  said  to 
be  at  liberty  to  be  a  good  or  a  bad  man.  He  can  no 
more  neglect  his  political  duties  and  be  a  good  citi- 
zen, however,  than  he  can  live  a  life  of  crime  and 
be  a  good  Christian.  One  of  the  evil  inheritances 
we  have  received  from  the  Old  World  is  this  idea, 
70 


A  PERPETUAL  COVENANT.  7 1 

that  political  responsibility  is  like  a  coat  that  may  be 
put  on  or  taken  off  at  will.  And  this  evil  has  been 
intensified,  rather  than  lessened,  by  the  zeal  with 
which  some  of  our  Anglomaniac  theorists,  especially 
at  the  East,  have  lately  urged  upon  educated  young 
Americans  the  duty  of  "going  into  politics" — using 
that  phrase  in  the  Anglican  sense,  and  meaning 
thereby  offering  themselves  as  candidates  for  office. 
That  merciless  satirist  of  Boston  life,  who  paints  its 
pettiness  and  self-sufficiency  so  deftly  that  his  victims 
take  his  ridicule  for  praise — that  universal  pessimist, 
Mr.  Howells — has  no  finer  bit  of  satire  than  when  he 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  typical  Boston  matron  the 
delicious  bit  of  taffy  she  addresses  to  the  Harvard 
undergraduate : 

"  How  splendid  to-  have  them  going  into  politics 
the  way  they  are  !" 

Adding,  in  justification  of  her  exultant  approval: 

"So  many  of  the  young  university  men  do — in 
England." 

It  is  this  idea  that  politics  is  a  trade,  a  profession, 
or  a  calling  inseparably  connected  with  office  holding, 
and  not  a  part  of  the  every-day  business  of  every 
American  life,  which  in  one  form  or  another  has 
wrought  such  serious  ills  as  to  make  it  questionable 
whether  self-government  has  not  more  difficult  prob- 
lems and  more  serious  obstacles  yet  to  overcome 
than  those  it  has  already  encountered.  From  this 
point    of  view,    the   revival   of  interest   in   political 


72  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

thought  which  has  recently  characterized  the  college 
life  and  general  culture  of  the  East  has  been,  in  many 
instances,  exceedingly  harmful.  It  has  strengthened 
two  false  impressions;  the  first,  that  politics  is  a  dis- 
tinct calling,  instead  of  a  universal  duty ;  and  the 
second,  that  the  educated  man,  so  called,  is  by  that 
very  fact  entitled  to  leadership.  It  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  the  very  opposite  of  both  these  ideas 
should  be  inculcated  in  the  minds  of  the  young  men 
of  to-day.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen,  no  matter 
what  his  station,  rank,  intelligence,  or  calling,  to  "go 
into  politics."  It  is  the  duty  of  the  "educated 
man  "  to  lead  or  to  follow — just  as  he  may  be  able — 
just  as  the  will  of  his  co-ordinate  sovereigns  may 
determine. 

In  a  republic  the  political  leader  is  rarely  formed 
by  education,  especially  such  false  and  faulty  educa- 
tion as  is  given  in  our  schools  and  colleges  to-day. 
In  fact,  it  is  a  curious  truth,  but  one  which  you  will 
find  abundantly  sustained  by  the  course  of  history, 
that  progress  in  government  very  rarely,  if  ever, 
springs  from  the  upper  classes,  or  those  known  as 
the  best  people.  It  is  not  the  rich,  the  wise,  the 
refined  and  cultured  elements  of  the  world's  life  who 
have  pushed  forward  the  cause  of  humanity  and  right, 
and  established  the  principles  of  justice  and  equality. 
The  governmental  shoe  has  always  pinched  the  poor 
man's  foot  worse  than  that  of  the  rich,  and  it  has 
been  the  hopeless  agony  of  the  weak,  or  the  despera- 


A  PERPETUAL  COVENANT.  73 

tion  it  inspired,  that  has  loosened  tlie  clutch  of 
tyranny  and  opened  the  door  of  opportunity.  It  is 
the  need  of  the  common  people  that  calls  forth  leaders 
and  prepares  men  to  become  exponents  of  political 
thought,  not  the  study  of  specific  theories.  It  is 
the  man  who  feels  the  popular  want,  understands  the 
aspiration  and  voices  the  demands  of  the  popular 
heart,  who  becomes  the  political  leader  in  a  republic. 
He  may  do  it  rudely  and  ungracefully.  He  may  not 
be  absolutely  faultless  in  the  use  of  the  auxiliary 
verbs,  nor  addicted  to  classical  quotations ;  but  he 
has  an  instinctive  knowledge  of  the  most  pressing 
evil  of  his  time,  and  a  more  or  less  practicable  remedy 
therefor ;  and  these  things  make  him  the  true  expo- 
nent of  the  sovereign  will. 

It  is  this  fact  that  has  made  the  common  life  of 
the  world  the  matrix  in  which  its  great  leaders  have 
been  shaped,  and  constituted  instinctive  sympathy 
with  the  people  the  prime  pj-erequisite  of  political 
preferment  in  a  republic.  That  culture  which  teaches 
us  to  wisely  note  the  general  need,  and  adapt  the 
forms,  conditions,  and  character  of  our  institutions 
thereto — that  is  true  political  education,  and  its  very 
fundamental  principle  is  the  universality  of  the  duty 
and  the  unavoidable  character  of  the  responsibility 
that  rests  on  the  citizen  king. 

As  I  have  said,  you  can  not  abdicate.  You  can 
not  cease  to  govern,  either  for  good  or  ill.  Self  gov- 
ernment— a  republic  in  our  modern  sense  of  the  word, 

7 


74  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

which  is  most  properly  defined  "a  government  by 
the  people  " — is  based  upon  certain  distinct  postulates, 
to  wit : 

1.  The  equal  power  of  each  one  of  the  governing 
class — the  citizen,  in  the  restricted  sense  of  that  term. 

2.  That  a  majority  of  the  citizenship  will  always 
be  wise  enough  to  understand  what  is  for  the  general 
good — the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number. 

3.  That  a  majority  will  always  be  honest  and  patri- 
otic enough  to  demand  what  is  for  the  general  good. 

4.  That  a  majority  will  always  be  vigilant  and 
brave  enough  to  prevent  any  material  subversion  of 
the  popular  will. 

These  are  the  four  great  principles  on  which  the 
fabric  of  our  government  rests — the  mudsills  of 
the  Republic.  Whenever  any  one  of  them  .shall  prove 
for  any  considerable  period  to  be  an  incorrect  hy- 
pothesis, the  experiment  of  self-government  in  the 
United  States  will  have  proved  a  failure.  Our  fore- 
fathers built  upon  this  rock.  Our  fathers  extended 
and  deepened  the  foundation.  It  is  perhaps,  as  much 
the  result  of  unconscious  development  as  design, 
but  it  has  been  a  development  working  logically 
and  naturally  along  the  lines  our  forefathers  doubt- 
full)'  and  hesitantly  marked  out  in  the  new  field  of 
governmental  science  in  which  they  were  the  first 
explorers. 

What  do  these  principles  demand  of  the  individual 
citizen  ? 


A  PERPETUAL  COVENANT.  75 

'.'Equality  of  right."  This,  fortunately,  is  already 
theoretically  attained.  It  is  the  result  of  almost  a  cent- 
ury of  sharp  conflict.  In  but  two  of  the  States  of  the 
Union  is  there  now  any  legal  distinction  in  the  power 
or  the  privilege  of  the  citizen.  In  some  the  legal 
limitations  are  somewhat  more  restricted  than  in 
others.  In  one  or  two  the  right  to  v^ote  depends  on 
ability  to  read  and  write ;  in  several  the  privileges 
of  citizenship  are  conditioned  upon  the  payment 
of  taxes ;  and  in  one  there  is  a  requirement,  long 
since  obsolete,  that  the  individual  be  of  good  char- 
acter. The  absurdity  of  making  the  right  to  rule 
depend  on  such  fortuitous  conditions  is  now  so  gen- 
erally recognized,  and  the  legalized  exceptions  are  so 
insignificant  in  number  that  it  ma}^  be  said  that  every 
native-born  or  naturalized  male  of  twenty-one  years 
old  and  upward  has  legally  an  equal  right  with  every 
other  in  the  direction  and  control  of  the  government, 
both  State  and  national.  To  the  decision  of  a  ma- 
jority of  these  legal  sovereigns  all  political  questions 
are  ultimately  referred.  If,  by  any  means,  a  portion 
of  this  constituent  sovereignty  is  debarred  from  the 
free  expression  of  its  will,  the  result  becomes,  to  that 
extent,  not  the  popular  will  nor  a  government  by  the 
people,  but  by  some  force  or  power  which  thwarts 
or  corrupts  the  popular  will.  It  is  needful,  there- 
fore, that  every  man  should  steadily  and  actively 
assert  his  equal  right,  in  order  to  secure  the  equal 
rights  of  every  other. 


"^e  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

It  is  also  necessary  for  the  success  of  republican 
institutions  that  the  majority  should  be  generally,  and 
in  the  long  run,  right  in  their  decision  of  public 
questions.  This  can  only  be  secured  by  the  careful 
anxiety  of  each  individual  to  be  himself  right.  There 
is  no  luck  nor  necromancy  about  it.  Ignorance  or 
passion  or  greed  or  negligence  may  corrupt  the  ver- 
dict of  the  masses,  just  as  well  as  the  judgment  of 
the  individual.  It  is  only  when  men  honestly  seek 
to  know  the  right,  to  understand  their  individual 
political  duty,  that  there  is  any  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  majority  will  be  wise  enough  to  determine 
what  constitutes  the  highest  good  of  the  greatest 
number,  and  so  be  fitted  to  promote  the  public  weal 
by  their  political  action.  Individual  action  becomes, 
therefore,  the  sole  guarantee  of  the  second  funda- 
mental postulate  on  which  our  government  is  based. 

But  even  equal  opportunity  and  abundant  knowl- 
edge are  not  enough,  of  themselves,  to  secure  the 
public  welfare.  Right  ?s  valueless  if  not  exercised,  and 
knowledge  useless  if  it  does  not  crystallize  into  action. 
It  is  not  enough,  therefore,  that  every  citizen  should 
be  legally  entitled  to  equal  privilege  with  every  other ; 
but  he  must  faithfully  exercise  the  same,  or  the 
popular  verdict,  made  up  without  his  assent,  will  be 
to  that  extent  defective,  and  for  that  very  reason  may 
be  wrong.  It  is  his  duty  to  see  to  it,  not  only  that 
he  is  qualified  and  prepared  for  the  intelligent  exercise 
of  his  kingly  prerogative,  but  that  no  harm  befall  the 


A  PERPETUAL  COVENANT.  yy 

commonwealth  from  his  neglect  of  duty.  It  is  better 
that  he  should  be  wrong  than  fail  to  act,  as  an  error 
of  judgment  is  always  less  heinous  than  gross  and 
inexcusable  neglect.  Apathy  is  the  worst  of  all  evils. 
A  torrent  may  be  easily  turned,  but  a  mere  dripping 
rill  offers  no  opportunity  for  guidance. 

But  equality,  right,  knowledge,  and  zeal  in  the 
performance  of  individual  duty,  all  combined,  are  not 
enough  to  secure  the  popular  will  from  error  and 
guarantee  the  safety  of  the  republic.  A  iiiajority  of 
the  people,  at  least,  must  be  vigilant  and  brave 
enough  to  prevent  any  extended  or  continued  sup- 
pression, distortion,  or  corruption  of  the  popular  will. 
It  is  just  here  that  the  crowning  duty  and  responsi- 
bility of  the  citizen  arises.  He  is  responsible  not 
only  for  his  own  action,  but  also  for  his  fellow's 
opportunity.  He  must  not  only  stubbornly  assert  and 
maintain  his  own  privilege,  earnestly  strive  to  know 
his  own  duty,  and  faithfully  endeavor  to  give  effect  to 
his  own  conviction,  but  he  must  see  to  it  that  neither 
fraud,  violence,  bribery,  terror,  nor  any  other  malign 
influence,  shall  be  allowed  to  neutralize  the  con- 
viction, bias  the  judgment,  or  thwart  the  will  of 
his  fellows. 

If  all  this  is  required  of  every  citizen  in  order  to 
secure  good  government  in  a  republic,  you  will  prob- 
ably declare  such  a  result  to  be  hopeless.  Do  not 
be  over-hasty  in  your  conclusions,  my  young  friend. 
All  this  is  indeed  necessary  to   insure  good  govern- 


78  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

ment  "by  the  people."  Yet  what  is  it?  Not  so 
very  much  after  all.  Only  equal  opportunity,  vigi- 
lance, and  zeal — the  very  things  of  which  we  boast 
as  the  chiefest  glory  of  our  land.  Where  else  does 
the  gate  of  opportunity  stand  open  to  all  ?  Who  so 
intelligent,  so  alert,  so  keen  as  the  American  ?  What 
does  it  demand  oi you  ?  Only  that  you  should  know 
your  own  duty,  assert  your  own  privilege,  use  your 
own  judgment,  and  see  that  /  am  permitted  to  do 
likewise.  It  is  only  what  is  required  under  every 
form  of  government — of  every  constituent  unit  of  the 
sovereignty.  Whether  the  king  be  one  or  a  million, 
he  is  responsible  for  the.  same  attributes.  Justice, 
wisdom,  and  honesty ;  courage,  zeal,  and  vigilance, 
are  required,  not  only  of  every  one  who  aspires  to 
rule  his  fellows,  but  of  every  one  on  whom  rests  the 
right  and  privilege  of  rulership.  A  king  may  abdi- 
cate his  throne ;  but  there  is  no  method  by  which 
the  citizen  can  relieve  himself  from  responsibility  for 
the  character  of  the  government  he  has  it  in  his 
power  to  control  or  modify. 

Our  government  is  but  a  partnership  in  which 
there  are  twelve  millions  of  co-partners,  each  having 
equal  privilege,  equal  power,  and  equal  responsibility. 
Of  each  is  demanded  intelligence,  honesty,  faithful- 
ness, and  courage.  If  any  fail  in  either  respect,  it 
endangers  the  rights,  liberties,  and  prosperity,  not 
only  of  himself,  but  of  each  and  every  one  of  his  fel- 
lows, and  of  all  who  may  come  after  them.      "Gov- 


A  PERPETUAL  COVENANT.  Jg 

ernment  by  the  people  "  is  a  universal  pact,  a  perpetual 
covenant,  by  which  every  citizen  is  bound  to  every 
other  citizen  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his 
part  of  the  common  duty.  No  one  can  invalidate 
this  covenant  or  avoid  its  penalty.  He  can  not  ab- 
dicate his  right,  alienate  his  privilege,  shift  his  bur- 
den to  other  shoulders,  or  evade  the  penalty  of  this 
joint  and  several  bond.  You  are  in  duty  bound  not 
only  to  see  to  it  that  the  republic  receives  no  detri- 
ment from  your  own  inability  or  neglect,  but  also  to 
prevent  its  being  imperiled  by  the  activity  of  any 
one  else. 

I  may  be  a  bad  man  and  you  a  very  good  one ; 
I  may  be  a  weak  man  and  you  a  very  strong  one ;  I 
may  be  a  foolish  man  and  you  a  very  wise  one ;  I 
may  be  a  timid  man  and  you  a  brave  one.  If,  now, 
you  take  away  your  courage,  your  wisdom,  your 
strength,  and  your  integrity,  and  leave  the  burden 
of  government — the  weight  of  sovereignty,  the  act 
of  legislation,  the  task  of  administration,  and  the 
duty  of  protecting  and  maintaining  the  national  life — 
to  my  weakness,  my  folly,  my  cowardice,  or  my 
greed,  and  evil  result,  as  of  course  it  must,  on  whom 
will  the  responsibility  rest? 

Who  will  be  called  to  answer  in  the  last  great 
day  for  the  injustice,  oppression,  anarchy,  and  woe 
that  may  ensue  ?  Surely  not  I  alone  who  did  the 
^vrong,  but  you  who  weakly  permitted.  It  is  your 
duty  to  save  me  from  myself — my  children  from  my 


So  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

harmful  assault.  If  you  fail  to  do  so,  your  rights  must 
suffer,  and  your  children  will  feel  the  scath  of  my 
wrong-doing  as  well  as  mine. 

"  But,"  you  ask,  "how  shall  I  perform  this  task? 
How  shall  I  learn  my  duty  ?  How  discharge  my  re- 
sponsibility ?  Are  there  not  some  millions  of  my  fel- 
low-sovereigns who  are  ignorant  of  their  duties?  Are 
there  not  many  thousands  who  are  neglectful  of  them? 
Are  not  votes  bought  and  sold,  like  meat  in  the 
shambles  ?  Do  not  bribery  and  intimidation  vitiate 
the  public  verdict,  and  paralyze  individual  effort?  Do 
not  *  practical  politics  '  and  party  spirit  and  the  '  ma- 
chine '  render  it  impossible  for  an  honest  and  patriotic 
man  to  act  up  to  his  convictions,  and  exercise  the 
power  vested  in  him  for  the  public  welfare?  Surely," 
you  say,  "I  can  not  be  held  responsible  for  failing 
to  do  what  so  many  of  our  wisest  and  best  men  de- 
clare it  is  impossible  to  effect." 

In  public  affairs  as  in  private  morals,  there  falls 
to  each  one  a  modicum  of  duty.  One  can  not  do  all, 
and  is  not  required  or  expected  to  do  all,  that  is  to 
be  done.  Neither  will  all  that  needs  to  be  done  be 
accomplished  at  once.  But  it  is  only  by  the  unre- 
mitting performance  of  individual  duty  that  any  pub- 
lic evil  will  be  remedied,  or  any  public  good  accom- 
plished. It  is  true  there  are  many  obstacles  to  be 
overcome.  They  are,  however,  by  no  means  insuper- 
able. Ignorance  and  vice  are  enemies  that  must  be 
met  and  vanquished.      "The   machine"  is  a  gnome 


A  PERPETUAL  COVENANT.  8l 

which  serves  many  good  people  as  an  excuse  for 
inaction.  Party  spirit  is,  perhaps,  as  often  a  whole- 
some as  a  harmful  force.  The  greatest  of  all 
obstacles  you  will  have  to  encounter  is  that  public 
sentiment  which  depreciates  the  citizen's  privileges, 
makes  light  of  individual  responsibility,  winks  at 
the  employment  of  evil  methods,  and  generally 
seeks  to  divorce  political  conduct  from  moral  re- 
sponsibility. "Practical  politics"  may  be  either 
of  a  good  or  a  bad  sort.  The  most  "practical" 
of  all  is  that  which  carries  Christian  principle  into 
political  action,  and  drives  out  evil  methods  and 
evil  influences.  Practical  politics  is  not  that  which 
snivels  and  sneaks,  and  seeks  foi-  some  specific  by 
which  ignorance  may  be  temporarily  disarmed  and 
fraud  for  a  time  circumvented.  Practical  politics  is 
that  which  achieves  practical  results.  If  directed  to 
a  good  purpose  and  controlled  by  wise  men,  it  con- 
fronts ignorance  with  intelligence,  fraud  with  honest 
vigilance,  crime  with  courage,  zeal  with  zeal. 

The  struggle  for  good  government  is  not  an  easy 
nor  an  intermittent  one.  You  must  not  expect,  my 
young  friend,  that  the  duties  of  the  citizen  will  be 
always  light  and  pleasant.  The  head  that  wears  a 
crown  must  be  always  burdened  with  anxiety.  The 
political  "machine"  is  not  one  that  can  be  set  right 
and  then  left  to  run  itself  Your  duties  are  not  many 
nor  of  especial  difficulty,  but  they  require  close,  care- 
ful, and  unremitting  attention.      You   can   not  hire  a 


82  ,       LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

substitute  to  do  service  for  you  in  the  conflict  for 
liberty,  nor  leave  what  should  be  done  to-day  until 
to-morrow.  In  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  the 
citizen  the  first  and  most  important  step  is  to  deter- 
mine your  relations  to  party,  and  your  rights,  privi- 
leges, and  responsibilities  as  a  partisan.  This  subject 
will,  therefore,  next  claim  our  attention. 


VII. 

A  CHOICE  OF  WEAPONS. 

It  is  customary  to  speak  of  party  as  a  political 
evil,  and  to  bewail  the  fact  that  such  a  thing  as  party 
spirit  exists.  No  little  ingenuity  has  been  wasted  by 
closet  politicians  in  devising  some  sort  of  mechanical 
substitute  whereby  the  advantages  of  party  organiza- 
tion may  be  retained,  and  the  evils  of  party  manage- 
ment avoided.  Thus  far  no  successful  substitute  has 
been  found,  and  the  paper  reformers  who  seek  for 
one  have  proved  themselves  of  no  more  value  to  the 
country  than  the  mourners  who  pathetically  whine 
about  the  "good  old  days  "  when  party  was  unknown. 
The  truth  is,  that  like  every  other  mere  instru- 
mentality, party  is  potent  either  for  good  or  ill.  It 
may  not  be  the  best  agency  that  can  be  devised  for 
the  control  of  popular  government,  but  it  is  the  only 
one  that  has  ever  proved  itself  effective ;  and  we  may 
be  sure  that  if  a  better  is  ever  found  it  will  still  be 
liable  to  abuse,  and  only  better  because  of  increased 
potency.  The  country  is  ruled  by  party  government, 
and  is  likely  to  be  so  ruled  for  many  generations. 
The  part  of  the  wise  man  and  good  citizen,  therefore, 

83 


84  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

is  not  to  stand  off  and  scold  about  what  he  is  power- 
less to  remedy  simply  because  he  fancies  it  is  not 
absolutely  perfect.  One  might  as  well  attempt  to 
batter  down  the  rock  of  Gibraltar  with  green  peas  as 
to  cure  a  political  evil  by  mere  fault-finding.  Power 
yields  only  to  force,  and  the  true  reformer  is  not  he 
who  merely  points  out  a  hypothetically  better  plan, 
but  he  who  also  develops  a  practical  means  for  its 
accomplishment.  The  part  of  the  patriotic  citizen  is 
not  merely  to  bewail  the  ills  that  beset  him,  but 
stoutly  to  face  them,  and  to  study  earnestl}-  how  to 
amend  them.  Especially  is  this  true  of  men  who  are 
the  first-born  of  heroes,  like  the  thousands  who  will 
this  year  step  for  the  first  time  into  the  arena  of 
American  citizenship.  The  prime  duty  of  such  is  to 
study  the  nature  of  party  government,  and  ascertain 
its  true  relation  to  the  citizen,  to  the  government,  and 
to  Christian  civilization. 

Party,  in  our  American  sense  of  the  term,  is  the 
most  remarkable  governmental  agency  ever  devised. 
It  is  not  the  invention  of  any  man,  or  set  of  men,  but 
a  natural  outgrowth  of  our  free  institutions,  or  rather 
of  the  spirit  from  which  they  sprung.  The  term  is 
.said  to  mean  "a  number  of  persons  united  in  opinion 
as  opposed  to  the  rest  of  the  community ;"  and  this 
has  been  generally  accepted  as  a  sufficient  definition. 
It  fails,  however,  to  draw  the  line  between  party  and 
faction,  to  which  it  equally  well  applies,  but  from 
which  party    is   clearly    distinguished    by    American 


A  CHOICE  OF  WEAPONS.  85 

usage.  The  truth  is,  that  the  marked  distinctiveness 
of  the  American  people — a  distinctiveness  stoutly 
denied  by  Anglomaniacs  and  other  superficial  ob- 
servers of  our  life,  and  by  nothing  more  clearly  proved 
than  by  the  frequent  need  of  new  definitions  for  old 
words — has  impressed  upon  the  term  party  a  meaning 
not  merely  new,  but  thus  far  apparently  impossible 
of  comprehension  by  the  political  thinkers  of  the  Old 
World.  This  distinction,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  has 
never  been  fairly  set  forth,  so  that  even  by  ourselves 
the  idea  of  party  is  rather  instinctively  apprehended 
than  clearly  understood.  We  shall,  perhaps,  best 
arrive  at  a  just  comprehension  of  this  singular  insti- 
tution by  a  brief  consideration  of  its  history. 

At  the  organization  of  our  government,  the  only 
parties  of  which  its  founders  had  any  conception,  the 
only  voluntary  organizations  which  they  supposed 
would  ever  develop  into  political  forces,  were  what 
we  would  now  term  factions.  It  was  believed  that 
men  prominent  in  public  affairs  would  have  adherents 
who  would  perhaps  band  themselves  together  to 
secure  the  advancement  of  their  respective  favorites. 
This  was  the  view  on  which  the  electoral  s}'stem  of 
the  Federal  Constitution  was  based,  and  which  it 
was  designed  to  utilize  and  regulate  It  was  sup- 
posed that  men  of  prominence  in  the  several  States 
would  be  competitors  for  the  honor  of  determining 
the  choice  of  President  and  Vice-President,  and  that 
the  followers  of  these  local  celebrities  would  be  pitted 


86  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

against  each  other  in  each  State,  not  as  mere  repre- 
sentatives of  some  general  interest,  but  as  individuals 
whose  action  would  be  a  matter  of  personal  discre- 
tion with  each.  It  was  believed,  also,  that  the  same 
theory  of  a  personal  following  and  individual  popu- 
larity would  prevail  in  the  action  of  the  several 
"  Electoral  Colleges,"  as  the  people  soon  named  the 
undefined  bodies  provided  for  by  the  Constitution, 
the  members  of  which  it  was  supposed  would  act 
according  to  their  individual  preferences,  and  being 
men  of  eminent  character,  would  look  more  closely 
and  discriminatingly  to  the  personal  qualities  of  the 
men  they  might  name  than  the  body  of  the  voters 
were  believed  to  be  capable  of  doing.  In  other 
words,  it  was  intended  to  interpose  between  the 
popular  will  and  the  national  Executive,  the  wisdom 
and  discretion  of  a  specially  selected  body,  who 
should  determine,  not  who  was  the  popular  choice, 
but  whom  they  deemed  best  fitted  for  the  place. 

This  idyllic  theory  was  doomed  to  early  and  com- 
plete eradication.  The  pre  eminent  regard  in  which 
Washington  was  held  by  all.  and  the  apparent  neces- 
sit)'  that  the  man  of  most  commanding  influence 
in  the  newly  organized  republic  should  be  at  the 
head  of  its  affairs,  at  least  until  the  governmental 
machinery  was  in  running  order,  made  the  successful 
application  of  a  principle,  which  would  now  be  re- 
garded as  absurd,  for  a  time,  not  only  possible,  but 
almost  unavoidable.     The  Electors  chosen  at  the  first 


A  CHOICE  OF   WEAPONS.  87 

election  in  the  various  States  were  men  of  the  highest 
distinction,  and  the  result  was  undoubtedly  a  fair 
expression  of  the  first  and  second  choice  of  a  vast 
majority  of  the  individual  voters.  You  will  recollect 
that  at  that  time,  and  until  1804,  the  Electors  did 
not  vote  for  President  and  Vice-President,  but  each 
Elector  voted  for  two  persons,  the  one  having  the 
highest  number  of  votes  being  declared  President, 
and  the  next  highest  Vice-President,  making  those 
selected  really  the  first  and  second  choice  of  a 
majority  of  the  Electors,  for  President. 

At  the  first  election,  in  1788,  there  was  no  trace 
of  a  national  party.  Before  the  second  election,  in 
1792,  however,  the  seed  had  been  sown  and  the 
transformation  from  faction  to  party  had  begun. 
The  re-election  of  Washington  and  Adams  partook 
in  a  great  degree  of  the  character  of  a  party  victory. 
The  abstract  theories  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion had  come  in  collision  with  the  instincts  of  the 
people.  They  did  not  rebel  against  the  forms  im- 
posed, but  simply  nullified  them  by  making  them 
mere  empty  forms.  From  that  hour  the  Elector 
began  to  lose  the  character  of  a  discretionary  official, 
and  became  more  and  more  the  mouth  piece  of  pop- 
ular preference,  until  he  has  at  length  ceased  to  be 
an  official  of  anj^  importance  whatever — the  place 
being  now  accounted  merely  a  training-school  for 
the  unpracticed  politician,  or  a  solace  for  the  super- 
annuated  one.     The  work  of  the  various   Electoral 


88  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

Colleges  to-day  is  simply  a  puerile  farce,  of  no  more 
real  importance  than  the  payment  of  a  barley-corn 
rental. 

The  seed  of  our  present  party  system  was,  how- 
ever, hidden  in  the  Constitution  itself  With  its 
adoption,  and  even  before  its  adoption,  there  sprang- 
up  a  wonderful  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  re- 
lation of  the  new  government  to  the  constituent 
States,  those  advocating  enlarged  powers  for  the 
national  government  being  termed  Federalists,  and 
those  insisting  upon  the  most  extended  view  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  respective  States,  Republicans. 
These  terms  from  time  to  time  varied  somewhat  in 
their  respective  significations  until  1816,  when  the 
former  disappeared  from  our  political  annals  and  has 
never  been  revived.  The  term  Democrat  was  pop- 
ularly applied  almost  interchangeably  with  Repub- 
lican to  the  opponents  of  Federalism,  until  1824, 
when  the  Republican  party  divided,  the  Jackson 
wing  taking  the  name  of  Democrat,  while  the 
anti-Jackson  Republicans  merged  with  the  remnant 
of  the  Federalists  under  the  name  National  Republi- 
cans. It  was  a  shrewd  attempt  by  a  dissatisfied  mi- 
nority to  deprive  the  party  they  were  deserting  of 
the  prestige  of  the  part}'  name.  The  stroke  was 
promptly  met  by  those  at  which  it  was  aimed,  by 
the  renunciation  of  the  old  name  and  the  adoption 
of  a  more  radical  and  popular  designation.  The  at- 
tempt has  more  than  once  been  made  to  repeat  this 


A  CHOICE  OF  WEAPONS.  89 

strategy,  and  capture  a  favorite  party  name  for  a 
seceding  faction,  but  it  has  never  been  successful. 
Prefixes  and  suffixes  have  never  proved  attractive 
lures  to  the  American  voter. 

In  1836  the  Whig  party  first  appeared  in  our 
national  politics,  and  continued  the  chief  opponent 
of  the  Democratic  party  until  1852.  In  1840  the 
Liberty  party  first  offered  a  national  candidate,  and 
under  various  aliases,  such  as  Free-soil  and  Free- 
Democrat,  continued  until  after  the  election  of  1852. 
United  with  the  great  body  of  the  Whig  party,  and 
a  considerable  contingent  of  Northern  Democratic 
leaders,  they  formed  in  1856  the  Republican  party, 
which  has  been  the  chief  opponent  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  ever  since.  There  have  been  Anti- 
mason,  American,  Temperance,  Greenback,  and 
other  so-called  parties  from  time  to  time,  but  those 
we  have  considered  are  the  only  ones  that  have 
ever  controlled  the  national  Administration. 

It  will  be  well  for  you  to  keep  in  mind  this  brief 
resume  of  party  names  and  their  succession,  not  that 
the  names  themselves  are  of  much  significance, 
but  they  will  enable  you  to  fix  with  certainty  the 
various  steps  in  the  development  of  the  American 
idea  of  party.  It  may  be  interesting,  however,  to 
note  one  or  two  facts  in  relation  to  them.  The 
Federal  party,  to  which  Washington  belonged,  be- 
came at  an  early  day  so  odious  to    the   people  that 

no  party  has  dared  to  assume  its  name  since  its  final 

8 


go  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

collapse  in  1796.  Republican,  which  succeeded  it  in 
popular  favor  after  twenty  years  of  undisputed  sway, 
was  adopted  by  a  faction,  with  the  prefix  ' '  Na- 
tional," and  thereafter  abandoned  by  the  most  ultra 
branch,  who  adopted  the  term  Democrat,  which  had 
been  derisively  applied  to  the  Republicans  by  their 
opponents,  the  Federalists,  for  many  years.  The 
name  Whig  was  borrowed  from  English  politics, 
both  because  of  its  association  with  our  Revolu- 
tionary da)s  and  the  triumphs  which  just  at  that 
time  were  being  won  by  English  Whigs,  as  well  as 
the  fact  that  it  impUed  opposition  to  autocratic 
power,  being  aimed  in  this  sense  at  the  personal 
government  inaugurated  by  Jackson.  The  Liberty, 
Free-soil,  and  Free  Democrat  appellations  of  the 
anti-slavery  party  are  each  expressive  of  some 
peculiar  phase  of  the  struggle  out  of  which  it  sprung. 
Throughout  the  entire  century  of  constitutional 
government  of  which  this  year  marks  the  close,  how- 
ever, there  has  been  a  general  harmony  of  relation 
between  the  two  leading  parties  that  is  very  striking, 
and  which  it  is  essential  for  him  who  would  under- 
stand American  politics  to  keep  steadily  in  view. 
From  first  to  last,  the  chief  difference  has  been  in 
regard  to  the  extension  or  limitation  of  federal 
power.  The  distinction  has  not  always  been  appar- 
ent, frequently  seeming  to  have  been  supplanted  by 
some  more  obvious  issue;  but  careful  analysis  will 
show  that  in   some  form  it  has  constantly  underlain 


A  CHOICE  OF  WEAPONS.  9 1 

the  issue  which,  for  the  time  being,  seemed  to  be 
the  sole  cause  of  difference.  The  RepubHcans  at 
the  first,  and  since  1824  the  Democrats,  have  been 
the  avowed  champions  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  individual  States  as  sovereign  communities,  in 
contradistinction  to  the  national  or  confederated 
power  of  the  whole.  Not  only  the  exclusive  control 
of  their  internal  affairs,  but  also  the  absolute  au- 
tonomy of  the  States — the  right  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union,  into  which  they  had  entered  as  sovereign 
States  by  federal  compact,  a  mere  formal  treaty 
which  ex  vi  termini  might  be  rescinded  by  the  power 
that  made  it — was  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  a 
distinctive  principle  of  this  party. 

Its  opponent,  under  various  appellations,  has  more 
or  less  rigorously  upheld  the  theory  of  national  pre- 
dominance, the  insolubility  and  individual  rather  than 
statal  character  of  the  federal  pact.  They  have  in- 
sisted that  the  Constitution  was  a  pact  between  "  we, 
the  people,"  as  constituent  atoms,  rather  than  be- 
tween the  States  as  political  corporations.  This 
contest  has  been  varied  in  name  and  form  by  spe- 
cific tendencies  at  various  epochs.  Under  the  im- 
pulse derived  in  no  small  degree  from  the  term 
Whig,  it  advocated  the  employment  of  national 
power  for  the  collective  economic  advantage  of  the 
people,  and  was  characterized  by  the  advocacy  of 
internal  improvements  and  the  taxation  of  imports, 
with   the  view  of  increasing   domestic  manufacture. 


92 


LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 


These  questions  were  not  then  dependent  merely 
upon  conflicting  views  as  to  the  policy  or  impolicy 
of  free  trade  or  internal  improvement,  but,  to  a 
far  greater  extent  than  your  training  and  experience 
will  enable  you  to  realize,  upon  the  right  of  the  fed- 
eral government  to  exercise  its  power  in  such  direc- 
tions and  for  such  purposes.  The  federalistic  idea 
underlying  the  economic  doctrines  of  the  Whig  party 
inclined  it  to  uphold  almost  any  exercise  of  the  na- 
tional authority  that  would,  promote  the  prosperity 
of  the  people — whatever  seemed  to  make  for  the  gen- 
eral aggregate  advantage. 

This  idea,  instead  of  being  merged,  as  so  many 
have  supposed,  in  the  new  questions  raised  by  the 
anti-slavery  agitation  at  the  time  of  the  organization 
of  the  present  Republican  party,  was  in  fact  empha- 
sized and  extended  by  it.  The  real  issue  between 
the  parties  at  that  time  was  not,  as  you  may  have 
supposed,  my  young  friend,  so  much  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  right  or  wrong,  policy  or  impolicy, 
of  slavery  as  a  social  institution  or  an  economic 
agency,  but  almost  entirely  a  disagreement  as  to  the 
power  of  the  federal  government  to  restrain  its 
extension.  The  Democrats,  in  brief,  held  that 
this  question,  being  within  the  domain  of  statal 
authority,  and  subject  entirely  to  State  regulation 
and  control,  the  general  government  could  not 
limit  or  restrict  the  privileges  of  a  citizen  of  any 
particular  State  in   regard   to  any  specific   form  of 


A  CHOICE   OF  WEAPONS.  93 

property,  nor  permit  it  to  be.  done  by  any  other 
State.  Tills  was  the  philosophic  basis  on  which 
rested  the  Fugitive-Slave  Law,  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  and  the  opposition  to  the  prohi- 
bition of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  This, 
too,  was  the  theoretical  basis  of  the  Rebellion,  among 
the  most  important  results  of  which  has  been  the  de- 
velopment of  issues  apparently  new,  yet  based,  in 
fact,  upon  the  old  familiar  controversy  as  to  the 
character  of  the  federal  compact,  and  the  limitation 
of  federal  power.  These  questions  involve  chiefly 
the  definition  of  federal  citizenship,  and  must  ulti- 
mately lead  to  further  consideration  and  determina- 
tion of  the  limits  of  State  control  over  the  exercise 
of  civic  privilege  by  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

You  will  perceive,  therefore,  that  for  a  hundred 
years  the  great  fundamental  distinction  between  the 
parties  which  have  controlled  the  national  destiny 
has  been  a  difference,  not  merely  as  to  the  correct 
construction  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  but  as  to 
the  true  principles  which  should  control  the  exercise 
of  the  federal  power.  The  one  has  held  with  more 
or  less  latitude  that  the  national  power  can  only  be 
exercised  to  sustain  the  national  authority,  provide 
for  the  national  defense,  and  raise  money  for  the  cur- 
rent expenses  of  the  government.  The  other  has 
maintained,  under  various  names  and  with  various 
immediate  purposes  in  view,  that  the  real  scope  of 
national    power  is   the  general   good    of  the    whole 


94  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

people,  limited  only  by  the  express  restrictions  of  the 
Constitution.  They  have  consequently  advocated 
the  use  of  the  public  lands  and  the  public  credit  in 
promoting  works  of  internal  improvement ;  have 
opened  the  public  lands  to  the  actual  settler  without 
purchase,  or  at  a  nominal  value ;  defined  the  limits 
of  national  citizenship,  and  maintained  the  principle 
of  a  restrictive  and  discriminating  tax  on  imports, 
not  only  as  a  means  of  obtaining  revenue,  but  also 
as  a  method  of  encouraging  domestic  manufacture, 
and  promoting  the  general  welfare  of  the  people. 

The  real  question  at  issue  between  the  two  parties 
which  in  turn  dominate  our  destiny  has  changed  in 
this  hundred  years  of  experience  and  under  uncon- 
scious modifying  influences,  chiefly  in  one  aspect. 
At  first,  it  was  almost  solely  a  matter  of  construction. 
What  did  the  Constitution  mean — what  was  the  pur- 
pose of  the  fathers?  This  was  the  question  upper- 
most in  political  discussion  during  the  first  half  cen- 
tury of  our  national  life.  Gradually  it  became  com- 
plicated with  questions  of  policy — of  necessity  even. 
Yet  still  it  entered  into  and  colored  all  political  con- 
troversy. It  drew  from  Webster  the  argument,  made 
necessary  by  the  strength  of  his  opponent's  position, 
that  the  federal  Union  was  a  permanent  pact  between 
individuals,  rather  than  a  terminable  treaty  between 
sovereign  communities,  giving  thereby  of  necessity 
the    right    to    consider    and     promote    the    general 


A  CHOICE  OF    WEAPONS.  95 

advantage  in  all  methods  not  expressly  prohibited  by 
the  fundamental  law. 

From  the  enunciation  of  this  doctrine  until  the 
present  time  the  color  of  our  political  discussion  has 
been  constantly  changing.  The  question  of  intent  on 
the  part  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  has  grad- 
ually given  way  to  the  question  of  public  policy  and 
general  interest.  This  is  not  only  true  of  political 
theories  and  legislative  action,  but  the  tendency  of 
judicial  construction  has  also  been  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. Rivers  and  harbors,  national  highways,  educa- 
tion and  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  country, 
have  been  subjects  of  especial  national  care,  while 
the  courts  have  asserted  its  power  not  only  to  control 
and  regulate  citizenship  and  the  exercise  of  its  privi- 
leges, but  also  to  see  that  the  power  of  the  State  is 
not  exercised  to  the  detriment  of  individual  interests, 
the  impairment  of  domestic  commerce,  or  to  imperil 
the  general  prosperity.  So  that  national  policy, 
rather  than  constitutional  power,  has  at  length  be- 
come the  chief  ingredient  of  political  disquisition  ; 
and  the  question  now  is,  not  so  much  how  far  the  na- 
tional prerogative  may  be  extended,  but  rather  how 
far  it  ought  to  be  carried. 

This  fundamental  difference  between  the  leading 
parties  of  the  country  will  no  doubt  continue.  It 
takes  the  place,  to  a  considerable  degree,  of  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  government  and  the  opposition 


96  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

which  prevails  in  other  parliamentary  governments, 
and  is  the  key  to  the  peculiar  significance  of  the 
term  party  in  our  political  thought.  Of  course  a 
thousand  considerations,  aside  from  the  two  great 
tendencies  we  have  considered,  may  incline  the  indi- 
vidual to  affiliate  with  the  one  or  the  other  of  these 
great  parties.  Indeed,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the 
mass  of  adherents  of  both  are  unconscious  of  the 
great  underlying  principles  that  divide  them,  and 
but  dimly  know  why  they  incHne  to  the  one  and 
not  to  the  other. 

While  it  is  important  that  you  should  make  no 
mistake  in  determining  what  shall  be  your  party 
affiliations,  it  is  of  infinitely  more  importance  that  you 
should  clearly  understand  what  are  your  rights,  privi- 
leges, and  responsibilities  as  a  member  of  any  party. 
We  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  the  ballot  as  the 
great  instrument  of  political  power.  It  is  a  mistake. 
The  ballot-box  only  registers  the  triumph  of  one 
party  over  another.  It  is  as  a  partisan  alone  that 
the  citizen  exercises  power,  and  the  party  organiza- 
tion is  the  only  weapon  by  which  political  good  may 
be  accomplished  or  political  evil  averted.  This  wea- 
pon you  must  learn  to  test,  to  shape,  to  temper, 
and  to  wield,  if  you  would  wisely  rule  or  effectually 
serve  your  country. 


VIII. 

"KING  CAUCUS." 

I  DO  not  doubt  that  if  you  have  carefully  followed 
the  preceding  papers  of  this  series,  you  will  note  with 
especial  pleasure  the  caption  of  the  present  number. 
We  have  been  so  accustomed  to  attribute  all  our  polit- 
ical ills  to  malign'abstractions  rather  than  to  individual 
deficiencies,  that  it  is  not  at  all  strange  that  you 
should  be  somewhat  tired  of  being  addressed  in  the 
second  person  singular  and  held  accountable  for 
public  evils  just  the  same  as  for  other  personal  sins 
of  omission  and  commission.  You  will  no  doubt 
rejoice,  therefore,  in  the  thought  that  instead  of 
applying  the  rod  still  farther  to  the  back  of  the  in- 
dividual citizen,  I  am  about  to  turn  my  attention  to 
the  much  belabored  abstraction  whose  name  appears 
at  the  head  of  this  article.  I  am  aware  that  "party" 
and  the  "caucus"  are  regarded  as  the  twin  devils  of 
our  political  life,  on  whose  devoted  heads  the  profes- 
sional reformer — the  man  to  whom  whatever  is,  is 
always  wrong — bestows  his  most  vigorous  whacks 
and  choicest  maledictions.  You  will  perceive  that  I 
have  inclosed  the  caption  in  quotation  marks.     This 

9  97 


98  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

is  not  done  for  the  purpose  of  implying  doubt  as  to 
its  existence  or  the  propriety  of  the  cognomen,  but 
as  you  will  perceive  before  you  reach  the  close  of  this 
letter,  to  suggest  whether  the  evil  thing  we  so  lustily 
curse  is  really  entitled  to  bear  the  name  we  use  to 
barb  our  anathemas.  Having  already  briefly  sketched 
the  succession  of  parties,  the  various  changes  of  name 
and  curious  identity  of  character  which  have  charac- 
terized our  leading  political  agencies  from  the  foun- 
dation of  our  government  until  the  present  time,  the 
purpose  of  this  letter  is  to  trace  the  evolution  of  the 
organic  form  and  note  the  distinctive  elements  of  the 
modern  party.  We  must  perforce  go  over  much  of 
the  same  ground,  and  pass  the  same  political  events  in 
a  like  hasty  review,  but  we  shall  regard  them  now  in 
an  entirely  different  aspect.  Our  inquiry  is  no  longer 
under  what  name,  or  for  what  purpose,  but  in  what 
form  and  bj'  what  methods,  political  results  have  been 
achieved. 

In  considering  this  question,  we  should  keep 
steadily  in  mind  the  fact  that  party  is  otily  an  agency. 
The  American  party  organization  is  simply  the  in- 
strumentality, by  which  the  American  people  have 
chosen  to  govern  themselves.  As  an  instrument,  it 
is  not  to  be  held  accountable  for  the  results  of  its 
use,  any  more  than  any  piece  of  mechanism  for  the 
consequences  of  its  application.  The  workman,  not 
the  chisel,  is  to  be  judged  by  the  chips.  The  question 
is    whether   a    party,    as   at    present    organized    and 


''KING  caucus:' 


99 


administered  in  this  country,  is  an  effective  method 
for  accompHshing  the  ends  which  those  who  move  the 
springs  and  levers  have  in  view  ;  whether  it  is  an  effi- 
cient instrument  for  accomplishing  good  in  the  hands 
of  good  men,  and  bad  in  the  hands  of  bad  men  ;  and 
whether  it  lends  itself  with  equal  facility  to  the  aims 
of  each.  If  so,  it  is  a  good  political  agency ;  if  not, 
it  is  a  bad  one.  There  has  not  yet  been  invented  any 
substitute  for  honesty,  patriotism,  and  intelligence, 
on  the  part  of  the  ruler;  nor  is  any  political  mechan- 
ism likely  to  be  devised  that  in  the  hands  of  bad  men 
will  yield  good  results,  or  enable  good  men  to  cir- 
cumvent evil  without  exertion. 

For  forty  years  after  the  organization  of  the  fed- 
eral government,  parties  partook  very  largely  of  the 
character  of  parties  and  factions  in  other  countries. 
Especially  did  they  resemble  in  constitution  and 
operation  the  political  forces  bearing  the  same  desig- 
nation, which  had  grown  up  under  that  curiously 
indefinite  force  known  us  the  British  Constitution. 
The  English  party  has  always  closely  resembled  the 
fundamental  law  of  which  it  is  a  result.  Certainty 
and  uncertainty  are  strangely  combined  in  its  char- 
acter. Of  late,  it  has  taken  something  of  form  from 
our  political  system.  At  that  time,  however,  it  was 
too  vague  to  deserve  the  name  of  part)'.  Harmony 
of  action  was  curiously  blended  with  freedom  of 
opinion  in  its  ranks.  The  line  that  separated  the  con- 
flicting forces  was  so  vague  as  to  be  almost  indefinable. 


lOO  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

The  bond  that  united  allied  factions  was  very  often 
one  of  contrast  rather  than  of  accord.  Each  individual 
leader  formulated  his  own  dogmas  and  negotiated  his 
own  alliances.  The  English  party  of  that  day  was 
merely  a  confederation  of  cliques — a  group  of  mobs 
rather  than  an  organization.  There  was  nothing  rep- 
resentative, fixed,  or  determinate  in  its  form  or  char- 
acter. It  had  a  head  but  no  body,  and  even  its 
head  was  of  indeterminate  form  and  uncertain  com- 
position. It  might  be  a  club  or  only  a  cabal.  It 
might  be  constituted,  destroyed,  or  recreated,  without 
reference  to,  or  consent  of,  the  electors — the  suffra- 
gans on  whom  its  strength  depended.  Its  leaders 
were  merely  allies,  who  fought  together  under  a  com- 
mon flag  as  long  as  they  saw  fit,  or  as  long  as  they 
could  command  the  support  of  their  constituencies 
by  so  doing,  and  no  longer. 

Except  in  the  choice  of  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  the  English  constituencies  had,  until 
very  recently  no  voice  in  the  constitution  of  the 
party,  or  the  formulation  of  its  distinctive  ideas.  The 
mass-meeting  and  the  self-constituted  cabal  were  its 
only  organic  features,  if  these  can  be  called  organic. 
A  few  men,  representing  no  one,  and  accountable  to 
no  one,  met  and  agreed  vaguely  upon  a  certain  line 
of  conduct.  It  was  rarely  if  ever  formulated  into 
abstract  propositions  binding  upon  all.  Tliere  was 
none  of  the  careful  study  of  phraseology  and  delicate 
balancing  of  words,  which  characterize  the  American 


*'KiNG  caucus:'  ioi 

platform.  ' '  Certainty  to  a  common  intent  in  general, " 
was  all  that  was  required  even  of  the  parties  to  the 
conference  themselves.  Smith  might  state  the  com- 
mon purpose  with  emphatic  precision,  and  Jones 
clothe  it  in  the  most  dubious  hypothesis;  while 
another  might  cover  the  whole  ground  of  variance 
from  doubt  to  certainty,  and  add  to  the  same  an 
infinite  variety  of  individual  notions,  without  being 
thought  to  exceed  the  privilege  of  the  partisan. 
This  was  precisely  the  character  of  the  Federal  and 
Republican  parties  in  the  early  period  of  our  history; 
and  such  our  statesmen  of  that  day,  no  doubt,  ex- 
pected them  to  continue.  Indeed,  it  is  not  unusual 
to  find  political  teachers  at  the  present  time  who  have 
quite  overlooked  the  fact  of  organic  changes  in  our 
political  agencies,  as  well  as  the  causes  from  which 
they  have  arisen. 

No  doubt  one  of  the  chief  influences  in  effecting 
such  changes  was  the  adoption  of  written  constitu- 
tions, together  with  the  judicial  rule  of  strict  con- 
struction of  the  same,  except  in  regard  to  indi- 
vidual rights.  The  grant  of  powers  was  viewed 
with  the  utmost  jealousy ;  the  guarantee  of  rights 
construed  with  the  utmost  liberality.  This  cultivated 
a  habit  of  certaint)'^  and  precision  in  the  statement 
of  political  questions,  which  is  quite  unknown  in 
other  countries,  except  those  whose  political  habit 
has  been  largely  molded  by  our  experience.  The 
conventions  which  framed   these  constitutions  were, 


102  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

in  a  sense,  representative,  though  by  no  means 
strictly  and  impartially  so.  The  doctrine  of  equal 
power  and  privilege  in  the  control  of  government 
had  made  but  little  progress  at  that  time,  and  it  is  a 
curious  fact  that  representative  government  preceded 
by  nearly  half  a  century  the  institution  of  repre- 
sentative party  organizations.  Little  groups  of 
prominent  men  in  each  State  were,  at  first,  the  shap- 
ing forces  of  the  respective  parties.  They  devised 
and  formulated  the  party  policy,  and  performed  the 
functions  of  the  English  party  club  or  conference  of 
leaders.  The  only  method  in  which  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  party  could  give  expression  to  their  views 
was  by  public  meetings  and  the  adoption  of  pre- 
pared resolutions.  These  mass  conventions  con- 
tinued to  grow  in  importance,  and  the  voluntary 
cabals  to  be  looked  upon  with  increasing  suspicion 
and  distrust,  as  the  new  government  came  to  be 
more  fully  apprehended  by  the  people. 

Before  the  second  decade  of  our  constitutional 
history  had  elapsed,  such  mass  conventions  in  the 
several  States  had  become  the  real  law  makers  of  the 
respective  parties.  They  formulated  with  the  utmost 
precision  the  tenets  to  which  their  adherents  were 
required  to  accede  as  a  condition  of  party  recogni- 
tion and  support.  They  rarely  touched,  however, 
the  field  of  party  administration  and  control  and  it 
was  nearly  half  a  century  before  the  two  functions 
were  united  in  the  same  body. 


*'KING  CAUCUS."  103 

From  the  voluntary  or  mass  convention,  marked 
by  State  limits,  to  the  delegated  convention  with 
prescribed  constituencies,  seems  to  us  now  but  a 
step,  yet  it  was  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  century  before 
it  was  fully  taken.  Like  almost  all  the  successive 
steps  in  the  evolution  of  our  governmental  forms 
and  agencies,  this  was  not  the  result  of  the  political 
sagacity  or  philosophical  foresight  of  any  man  or  set 
of  men,  but  of  the  popular  jealousy  of  self-consti- 
tuted leaders.  It  would  seem  that  in  a  few  of  the 
States  the  delegate  part}-  convention  had  been  es- 
tablished as  early  as  1820.  Its  powers  and  functions, 
however,  were  very  loosely  defined.  The  representa- 
tion, except  in  some  of  the  New  England  States,  was 
by  counties,  and  in  them  by  towns.  The  delegates 
were  chosen  b)-  public  mass  conventions.  Even  this 
skeleton  part\-  organization  was  only  half  com- 
plete, in  most  of  the  States,  and  as  }'et  there  had 
been  no  attempt  to  extend  its  operation  to  the  do- 
main of  national  politics. 

The  exercise  of  delegated  authority  in  party 
councils  had,  however,  become  familiar  to  the  pop- 
ular mind  through  the  action  of  congressional  and 
legislative  caucuses.  These  were  the  first  successors 
of  the  vicious  system  of  voluntary  cabals.  Their 
right  to  act  for  their  respective  parties  was  based 
solely  on  the  fact  that  they  had  been  chosen  by  them 
to  perform  other  political  functions.  The  hostility 
to  I'ederalism  which  dex'eloped   even   during  Wash- 


I04 


LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 


ington's  first  term,  was  no  doubt  a  popular  rebellion 
against  the  idea  of  a  central  controlling  power,  in  the 
party  as  well  as  in  the  nation.  The  self-constituted 
Federal  caucuses  of  Virginia,  New  York,  and  Mas- 
sachusetts were  exact  equivalents  of  their  English 
model.  They  were  composed  of  the  ablest,  most 
patriotic  and  cultivated  of  the  supporters  of  the 
Presidential  policy.  They  represented,  however,  an 
idea  inherently  obnoxious  to  the  American  spirit; 
they  assumed  to  rule  rather  than  to  serve;  they  dic- 
tated the  party  policy  without  having  been  author- 
ized by  the  voters  of  the  party  to  speak  for  them. 

The  first  formal  rebellion  against  the  authority 
of  these  unauthorized  cabals  was  the  legislative  cau- 
cus. When  or  where  the  first  of  these  remarkable 
gatherings  was  held  it  is  impossible  now  to  deter- 
mine ;  nor,  indeed,  is  it  important.  The  association 
of  members  of  a  legislative  body  having  a  general 
political  affinity,  to  secure  harmony  of  action  in 
matters  of  general  interest,  is  not  only  natural  but 
absolutely  essential.  It  was,  perhaps,  equally  nat- 
ural that  these  chosen  representatives  of  the  people 
should  look  with  jealousy  upon  the  self-constituted 
cliques  which  assumed  to  direct  the  course  of  na- 
tional affairs.  Almost  from  the  first,  therefore,  we 
find  the  legislative  caucuses  performing  the  organic 
functions  of  the  State  conventions  of  the  present 
time,  and  assuming  to  speak  for  their  constituents, 
not  only  in  regard  to  State,  but   also  upon  national 


''KING  CAUCUS."  105 

affairs.  Of  these,  the  legislative  caucuses  of  Virginia 
and  New  York  became  especially  notable. 

The  congressional  caucus  was  the  natural  out- 
growth of  the  legislative  organizations  already  exist- 
ing. It  was  instituted  under  the  direct  supervision 
of  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  the  discoverer  of  most  of 
the  popular  forces  of  the  new  government.  He 
alone  seems  to  have  understood  something  of  the 
meaning  of  government  by  the  people,  while  the 
bulk  of  his  compeers  thought  only  of  a  government 
for  tlie  people,  by  their  leaders.  The  first  congres- 
sional caucus — that  is,  the  first  organized  meeting  of 
the  members  of  a  political  party  who  were  also 
members  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress,  assuming  to 
act  on  behalf  of  their  party,  in  the  selection  of  a 
Presidential  candidate — was  held  toward  the  close 
of  Mr.  Jefferson's  second  term,  in  1808.  It  will  be 
well  for  you  to  note  the  character  of  this  caucus  with 
some  care,  in  order  to  distinguish  it  from  the  joint 
caucus  of  each  party  in  the  two  houses  of  Congress, 
which  still  exists,  but  confines  its  attention  to  mat- 
ters of  legislation.  The  two  bodies  are  entirely  dis- 
similar in  function,  though  designated  by  the  same 
terms. 

From  this  time  until  1824  the  congressional  cau- 
cuses assumed  to  nominate  the  national  candidates, 
and  their  action  was  in  every  instance  confirmed  by  the 
popular  acquiescence  and  approval  of  their  respective 
parties.     This  result  was  not  secured,  however,  with- 


I06  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

out  certain  indications  of  ultimate  revolt.  The  jeal- 
ousy of  the  various  legislative  caucuses,  whose  action 
was  really  open  to  the  very  same  objection,  fostered 
the  idea  already  prevalent  among  the  people,  that 
such  course  on  tiie  part  of  members  of  Congress  was 
a  dangerous  usurpation — an  unauthorized  extension 
of  the  powers  delegated  to  them  by  their  constitu- 
ents. The  term  which  became  the  slogan  of  the 
famous  scrub  race  of  1824  showed  how  ineradicable 
is  the  antipathy  of  the  American  people  to  the  exer- 
cise of  any  political  power  which  is  not  clearly  and 
unmistakably  conferred  by  express  popular  authoriza- 
tion. It  was,  in  fact,  a  rebellion  against  the  action 
of  the  congressional  caucus,  which  was  stigmatized 
as  "  King  Caucus!" 

The  attempt  has  been  made  to  perpetuate  the 
odium  attaching  to  this  name  by  an  indiscriminate 
application  of  the  term  to  all  forms  of  voluntary 
political  organization.  Even  yet  the  English  polit- 
ical writers,  and  some  careless  observers  among  our 
own  political  theorists,  labor  under  the  impression 
that  the  "caucus"  is  the  most  reprehensible  feature 
of  our  party  organization.  Within  a  very  brief 
period  a  distinguished  novelist,  whose  ideas  of 
American  politics,  when  not  purely  fanciful,  are  de- 
rived by  infiltration  from  English  authorities,  has 
represented  the  United  States  as  still  under  the  do- 
minion and  control  of  that  terrible  tyrant,  old  "  King 
Caucus!" 


"KJNG  caucus:'  107 

The  truth  is,  that  the  "caucus"  in  the  sense  in 
which  the  word  had  been  used  up  to  that  time, 
received  its  death-blow  in  1824.  Almost,  if  not  the 
sole  instances  of  its  survival,  are  to  be  found  in  the 
political  organizations  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
which  despite  its  arrogant  claim  to  teach  political 
purity,  remains,  as  it  always  has  been,  the  Gibraltar 
of  political  depravity.  At  that  time  the  legislative 
caucuses  of  the  several  States,  as  if  by  mutual  under- 
standing, attempted  to  revive  their  lapsed  privilege 
of  nominating  the  national  candidates,  and  four  aspir- 
ants, all  belonging  to  the  same  party,  were  thus 
brought  into  the  field,  with  the  result  that  there  was 
no  choice  of  President  or  Vice-President  by  the  elec- 
toral colleges  of  that  year. 

This  fact  and  the  controversies  resulting  therefrom 
made  a  profound  impression  on  the  public  mind,  and 
prepared  the  way  for  the  institution,  in  1830,  of  the 
delegate  national  convention,  which  is  the  keystone 
of  the  American  theory  of  party  government.  The 
result  has  been  the  establishment  of  a  system  of 
voluntary  republics  within  the  boundaries,  and  adapt- 
ing themselves  to  the  civil  divisions,  of  the  federal 
Union.  These  voluntary  republics  we  call  parties. 
They  are  composed  of  (i)  primaries,  or  voluntary 
meetings  of  the  members  of  the  party  in  the  smallest 
subdivisions  of  the  various  States,  and  (2)  delegate 
conventions,  composed  of  representatives  from  the 
primaries  or  subordinate  delegate  conventions.    Thus 


I08  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

the  city,  district,  county,  State,  and  national  conven- 
tions are  duly  constituted,  all  dependent  on  the  will 
of  the  individual  members  of  the  party  as  expressed 
at  the  primaries,  or,  as  they  are  sometimes  termed, 
caucuses. 

This  magnificent  system  is  a  gradual  but  nat- 
outgrowth  of  the  geniuS  of  the  American  people 
for  self  government.  It  is  the  natural  enemy  of 
the  "caucus"  and  all  forms  of  individual  usurpa- 
tion or  assumption.  It  is  the  freeman's  chosen 
weapon  for  the  achievemertt  of  individual  equality, 
which  only  fails  to  accomplish  its  purpose  when  the 
hand  of  the  citizen  relaxes  its  grasp  and  the  free- 
man yields  its  control  to  the  hireling.  In  detail  and 
organization  it  is  by  no  means  perfect.  It  is  fair  to 
presume  that  neither  its  merits  nor  its  imperfections 
are  yet  fully  apprehended.  Fifty  years  of  trial  can 
hardly  be  expected  to  develop  more  than  the  most 
apparent  excellencies,  or  reveal  the  most  evident 
defects  of  a  system  at  once  so  pliant,  so  potent,  and 
so  unique. 

Thus  far  the  evils  which  have  developed  under 
it  have  generally,  if  not  always,  been  the  result,  not 
of  the  system  itself,  but  of  the  s'urvival  of  some  of 
the  vicious  and  undemocratic  dements  of  the  systems 
it  superseded. 

These  in  many  cases  have  distorted  its  character 
and  greatly  impaired  its  efficiency ;  but  reviewing  its 
entire  history,  judging  its  efficiency  by  its  aggregated 


"KING  CAUCUS."  109 

results,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  American 
party  system  is  the  simplest,  surest,  and,  all  things 
considered,  the  most  effectual  method  of  ascertaining 
the  popular  will  and  carrying  into  effect  the  common 
purpose,  that  has  ever  been  devised.  Being  a  natural 
evolution,  it  adapts  itself  with  readiness  to  the  most 
diverse  conditions,  not  serving  to  render  the  bad 
good,  nor  the  good  bad,  but  registering  with  the 
utmost  exactitude  the  intelligence,  virtue,  strength, 
and  manhood  of  every  community  to  which  it  is 
applied.  If  it  points  to  "deals"  in  New  York  and 
"bull-dozing"  in  the  South,  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the 
system,  but  only  a  natural  result  of  the  predominance 
of  corruptibility  and  weakness  in  the  respective  local- 
ities. A  reliable  barometer  will  not  point  to  "fair" 
in  the  face  of  a  storm,  nor  has  any  plan  been  yet 
devised  that  will  enable  a  people  to  gather  the  grapes 
of  good  government  from  the  thorns  of  neglect, 
venality,  and  ignorance.  Our  party  system  does  not 
guarantee  protection  against  usurpative  intelligence ; 
it  affords  no  safeguard  against  intimidation  or  cor- 
ruption; it  only  provides,  and  only  professes  to  pro- 
vide, a  way  by  which  virtue  and  intelligence,  united 
with  courage  and  zeal,  may  secure  prosperity  and 
good  government  in  a  republic. 

The  creation  of  this  magnificent  instrumentality  is 
due  to  the  instinct  of  self-control  that  characterizes 
our  people.  It  is  this  which  especially  distinguishes 
the  American  Republic^from  all  other  attempts  in  the 


no  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

direction  of  self-government,  and  is  the  most  unique 
and  valuable  of  all  our  political  institutions.  In- 
stead of  regarding  it  with  apprehension  or  contempt, 
every  good  citizen  should  look  upon  it  with  peculiar 
reverence.  You  can  not  possibly,  my  young  friend, 
devote  your  time  to  a  more  profitable  study  than  the 
constitution  and  character,  the  capabilities  and  defects, 
of  this  most  remarkable  political  agency  which  the 
history  of  the  world  has  developed. 


IX. 

SETTING  THE  KEY-STONE. 

I  HAD  intended  in  this  number  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  organic  character  and  distinctive  elements 
of  our  party  system  as  it  at  present  exists,  pointing 
out  some  of  its  excellencies  and  considering  its 
proved  defects.  Upon  carefully  reviewing  the  ground 
already  covered,  however,  it  has  seemed  to  me  desir- 
able that  you  should  first  consider  with  some  care 
the  events  immediately  leading  to  the  adoption — per- 
haps I  ought  to  say  the  discovery — by  the  people  of 
the  United  States  of  the  national  convention,  com- 
posed of  a  specific  number  of  delegates  from  the 
various  political  subdivisions  apportioned  according  to 
a  fixed  rule,  chosen  by  a  regularly  ascertained  ma- 
jority in  the  party  primaries,  representing  the  collec- 
tive will,  and  constituting  the  supreme  legislative, 
judicial,  and  administrative  head  of  a  voluntary  polit- 
ical organization,  which  every  member  has — or  is 
supposed  to  have — equal  power  and  privilege  in 
shaping  and  controlling.  This  body  is  the  key-stone 
of  the    American    party   system,    and   you    can    not 

properly   appreciate    its    character    and    importance 

III 


112  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

without  giving  special  attention  to  the  circumstances 
attending  its  adoption.  If  our  political  history  up  to 
that  point  showed  a  tendency  to  popularize  party 
management,  the  setting  of  this  key-stone  was  so 
unmistakable  an  assertion  of  the  public  will  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  that  our  party  system,  instead  of 
being  a  carefully  planned  instrumentality  for  depriving 
the  citizen  of  his  equal  share  in  the  government,  as 
some  would  have  us  believe,  is  in  reality  the  very 
weapon  which  the  people  forged  to  secure  parity  of 
power  and  privilege  to  all. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  history  of  party 
organization  in  the  United  States  reveals  four  succes- 
sive stages,  each  marked  by  its  own  distinctive  method 
of  ascertaining  and  directing  popular  sentiment,  in 
order  to  secure  effective  co  operation  among  those 
of  similar  political  views.  To  each  of  these  may  be 
assigned  the  following  respective  periods:  (i)  That 
of  the  individual  faction,  or  irresponsible  voluntary 
cabal,  from  the  foundation  of  the  government  until 
1796;  (2)  The  State  Legislative  Caucus  period,  from 
1792  until  1812;  (3)  The  Congressional  Caucus  era, 
from  1808  until  1824;  (4)  The  Delegate  Convention 
period,  from  1830  until  the  present  time.  We  have 
seen  that  each  one  of  these  successive  changes  was 
a  natural  outgrowth  of  the  irrepressible  tendency  of 
the  American  people  towards  self  government,  acting 
through  existing   agencies,    and    moved   by  specific 


SETTING  THE  KEY-STONE.  113 

popular  impulses.  You  will  note  that  the  periods 
assigned  to  each  are  not  exclusive.  Like  all  popular 
movements,  it  can  not  be  said  that  these  changes  of 
form  were  instantaneous,  or  that  the  one  at  a  precise 
moment  superseded  the  other.  Each  may  be  said 
to  have  been  the  prevailing  or  dominant  force  during 
the  period  assigned  to  it.  Each  marked  a  revolution 
more  or  less  distinct  in  public  thought,  by  which  it 
was  brought  about,  and,  like  all  such  changes,  was 
more  or  less  gradual  in  character.  The  Legislative 
Caucus  continued,  even  after  the  organization  of  the 
Congressional  Caucus,  as  the  determinative  body, 
only  losing  something  of  its  independent  and  conclu- 
sive character ;  while  between  the  downfall  of  the 
Congressional  Caucus  and  the  adoption  of  the  Rep- 
resentative Convention,  a  considerable  period  elapsed, 
during  which  parties  were  without  any  recognized  or 
authoritative  headship.  This  was  the  germinal  period 
of  the  present  system. 

It  is  most  essential  that  you  keep  the  facts  of  the 
growth  and  evolution  of  our  party  forms  constantly 
in  mind.  As  a  result  of  popular  progress,  party  be- 
comes not  only  an  interesting  study,  but  a  govern- 
mental agency  worthy  of  serious  and  even  reverent 
consideration.  It  has  been  too  much  the  custom  to 
regard  all  party  organizations  as  necessarily  malign 
and  dangerous  influences.  The  philosophic  ideal  of 
the  perfect  citizen  is  no  doubt  builded  on  the  model 

of  a  political   Cincinnatus,    following  peacefully  the 

10 


314  LETTERS  TO  A  KING, 

plow  until  a  public  exigency  arises;  then  going  quietly 
to  the  ballot-box,  and,  without  previous  consultation 
or  any  concert  of  action  with  others,  expressing  by 
his  simple  ballot,  his  judgment  as  to  the  fittest  man 
to  be  assigned  to  any  specific  duty.  Perhaps,  to 
make  it  entirely  harmonious  with  our  latest  Anglo- 
American  ideal,  this  modern  Cincinnatus  ought  to  be 
endowed  with  a  vigorous  Catonian  inclination  to  find 
fault,  and  thoroughly  convinced  that  he  is  one  of  the 
few  honest  and  patriotic  citizens  of  the  Republic,  if 
not,  indeed,  the  only  one,  on  whose  integrity  and 
disinterestedness  absolute  reliance  can  always  be 
placed. 

Very  fortunately  this  ideal  is  no  longer  capable 
of  realization.  The  changes  of  party  form  have  al- 
ways been  indicative  of  far  more  important  changes 
in  public  thought — a  constant  emphasizing  of  the 
tendency  towards  popular  government.  At  first  it 
was  supposed  that  the  people  would  be  content 
merel}'  to  choose  those  whom  they  preferred,  in 
whose  probity  and  wisdom  they  had  the  highest  con- 
fidence, and  that  these  men  would  be,  for  the  time 
being,  their  rulers.  Under  these  earlier  conditions 
the  persons  chosen  to  executive  or  legislative  ofifices 
were  regarded  as  having  been  vested  with  discretion- 
ary power,  rather  than  charged  with  specific  obliga- 
tions by  the  popular  preference.  The  fact  that  they 
were  the  candidates  of  any  particular  party  carried 
with    it   little,    if  any,    restriction   of  this  discretion. 


SETTING   THE  KEY-STONE.  II5 

While  party  lines — that  is,  the  sentiment  which 
separates  one  party  from  another — were,  no  doubt, 
drawn  as  sharply  then  as  now,  the  limits  of  party 
doctrine  were  very  indistinct.  There  existed  no  such 
clear  and  positive  guides  to  the  specific  principles 
which  the  different  factions  of  those  early  days 
professed,  as  the  party  platforms  of  the  past  fifty 
years.  Not  that  these  are  always  intended  to  speak 
the  truth,  or  meant  wholly  to  reveal  the  party 
preference,  but  read  with  the  gloss  of  current 
events,  they  constitute  an  infallible  index  to  the  party 
purpose. 

As  party  forms  developed,  popular  government 
became  a  more  and  more  distinct  and  tangible  fact. 
The  candidate  of  a  party  to-day,  within  the  limits 
of  his  part)''s  principles  and  declarations,  is  bound 
as  firmly  as  if  sworn  upon  the  altar.  His  claim  to 
support  is  based  solely  upon  a  pledge  of  loyalty  to 
the  instructions  of  his  party  followers.  So  far  as 
their  declared  will  and  purpose  extends  he  is  the 
servant,  the  agent  of  the  party  which  nominates  him. 
Every  vote  that  is  cast  for  him  is  given  under  the 
express  or  implied  pledge  on  his  part,  that  in  the 
position  he  is  chosen  to  fill,  he  will  act  according 
to  their  instructions  and  preferences,  so  far  as  the 
same  shall  have  been  expressed  previous  to  his  election. 

In  other  words,  the  official  of  to-day  is  the  legis- 
lative or  executive  representative  of  the  will  of  his 
party,  and   takes  the   office   to  which   he   is   chosen 


Il6  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

under  the  most  solemn  pledges  to  act  according  to 
the  known,  established,  and  formulated  principles  of 
those  by  whom  he  is  chosen.  He  is  their  attorney, 
governing  in  their  name,  by  their  authority,  and  ac- 
cording to  their  direction.  Outside  of  their  pre- 
expressed  will,  however,  he  is  not  bound  to  consider 
or  consult  their  preferences.  Upon  a  new  question  he 
may  properly  and  honorably  take  his  own  course,  even 
though  it  should  be  in  direct  hostility  to  the  will  of 
those  by  whom  he  is  chosen,  expressed  subsequently  to 
his  election. 

This  is  government  hy  the  people.  It  is  the  en- 
forcement of  the  express  will  of  a  majority,  by  their 
pledged  and  chosen  representatives — the  exponents 
of  their  beliefs  and  the  agents  of  their  predetermined 
purposes.  This  may  not  be  so  good  a  plan  of  gov- 
ernment as  that  which  simply  selects  the  wisest  and 
best — or  those  whom  the  majority  may  deem  the 
wisest  and  best — leaving  them  to  act  as  they  may 
judge  the  public  good  to  require.  It  is  the  result, 
however,  of  an  irresistible  tendency  of  our  people 
toward  self-government — to  the  determination  of  all 
important  questions,  not  by  arbitrators  chosen  to  de- 
cide the  same,  but  by  the  people  themselves  acting 
individually  and  directly  upon  the  subject.  Our 
party  organization  of  the  present  is  calculated  and 
intended  to  give  expression  to  this  impulse,  and  is 
impregnably  intrenched  in  the  popular  preference 
because  of  its  actual  or  supposed  efficiency  in  secur- 


SETTING  THE  KEY-STONE.  WJ 

ing  that  result.  It  was  this  tendency  on  the  part  of 
the  American  people  that  thrust  aside  first  the  indi- 
vidual cabals,  then  the  separate  State  Legislative  Cau- 
cus, and  finally  the  Congressional  Caucus  itself — each 
because  it  was  not  sufficiently  representative  of  the 
popular  will — substituting  each  time  a  broader,  more 
perfect  and  harmonious  system  in  place  of  the  one 
thus  discarded ;  making  these  successive  changes, 
not  instantaneously  and  simultaneously  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  but  gradually  and  at  different  times 
in  different  States,  as  the  necessity  for  them  forced 
itself  upon  the  public  conviction.  It  was  this  same 
impulse,  too,  that  finally  threw  them  all  aside  and 
adopted  the  present  party  organization  in  order  to 
secure  a  better  expression  of  the  popular  will  and 
more  certain  accomplishment  of  its  purposes. 

The  history  of  the  first  national  delegate  conven- 
tion and  the  circumstances  out  of  which  it  grew, 
affords  a  singular  confirmation  of  the  view  we  have 
taken.  As  we  have  seen,  there  v.as  but  one  party 
in  the  nation  from  1816  until  1824.  Even  then,  the 
so-called  National  Republican  party  did  not  formu- 
late any  express  declaration  of  principles,  but  merely 
separated  from  the  other  wing  of  the  party,  claiming 
to  be  its  true  exponent  instead  of  the  more  radical 
faction  which  they  opposed.  Practically,  the  same 
conditions,  slightly  emphasized,  continued  in  1828. 
That  contest  was  purely  factional.  It  was  a  fight 
between  the  personal  followers  of  men  who  did  not 


Il8  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

even  claim  any  material  difference  of  political  faith. 
At  this  time,  however,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
and  instructive  movements  of  our  poHtical  history- 
was  begun,  which  eventually  became  one  of  the  most 
romantic  episodes  in  the  progress  of  self-government. 

It  is  doubtful  if  such  important  results  ever  before 
sprung  from  apparently  so  insignificant  a  cause,  as 
those  which  followed  the  disappearance  of  William 
Morgan,  of  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  in  1826.  Indeed,  the 
political  history  of  that  time  reads  to-day  like  a  page 
out  of  some  highly  colored  romance.  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  believe  that  the  actors  in  that  curious 
extravaganza  were  our  fathers,  sober,  earnest,  God- 
fearing men.  Yet  your  own  grandfather  was  snatched 
from  obscurity  and  raised  to  fame  by  the  intensity 
of  his  patriotic  anger  at  the  crime  done  to  one  citi- 
zen, and  the  peril  which  he  thought  it  indicated  to 
the  rights  of  all.  Even  after  her  eightieth  year  I  re- 
member to  have  heard  my  grandmother  tell,  in  tones 
tremulous  with  excitement,  the  story  of  what  she 
still  believed  to  be  a  conspiracy  of  unparalleled  atro- 
city against  the  liberty  of  the  citizen  and  the  safety 
of  the  Republic.  She  only  represented  the  senti- 
ment of  hundreds  of  thousands  to  whose  minds  even 
the  fame  of  Washington  was,  for  a  time,  clouded 
with  doubt  because  of  his  relations  with  a  mystic, 
oath-bound  body,  whom  they  believed"  to  be  inim- 
ical to  a  government  based  on  equality  of  right. 

What  was  the  cause  of  this  popular  ferment?     It 


SETTING  THE  KEY-STONE.  II9 

has  almost  been  forgotten.  Perhaps  you  will  hardly 
find  the  name  I  have  cited  in  your  encyclopedia. 
There  is  more  than  one  such  work  that  does  not 
deem  it  worthy  of  preservation  even  for  the  student 
of  American  politics.  I  doubt  if  you  have  ever  given 
the  movement  inseparably  connected  with  it  an 
hour's  thought.  Yet  I  have  seen  your  grandfather's 
eyes  flash  under  his  white  knotted  brows,  and  heard 
his  voice  tremble  with  emotion,  as,  even  amid  the  ex- 
citement of  our  great  Civil  War,  he  told  the  story  of 
that  wonderful  popular  uprising.  Even  your  father, 
until  the  last  hour  of  his  life,  acknowledged  its  in- 
fluence upon  his  own  political  preferences. 

William  Morgan  was  a  Freemason.  He  was  re- 
ported to  have  written  an  exposition  of  the  mysteries 
of  that  ancient  fraternity  for  publication.  This  report 
awakened  great  consternation  among  the  members  of 
that  organization  throughout  the  country.  Pending 
its  publication,  Morgan  was  imprisoned  at  Canandai- 
gua,  New  York,  on  a  charge  of  debt;  taken  out 
of  the  jail  at  night,  placed  in  a  carriage,  and  driven 
away  in  the  direction  of  Niagara  Falls.  He  was 
never  seen  afterwards.  The  popular  belief  was  that 
he  was  murdered  and  his  body  thrown  into  the  river, 
and  that  this  was  done  by  Freemasons  to  prevent  the 
revelation  he  was  about  to  make.  It  is  probable  that 
both  suppositions  were  correct.  Yet  why  should 
such  a  crime  be  of  special  moment  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States  ?     What  was  William  Morgan  that 


120  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

they  should  take  any  interest  in  his  death  ?  Nothing. 
As  a  man  he  was  utterly  insignificant,  and,  by  his 
own  confession,  dishonored  and  forsworn.  The  dis- 
closures he  professed  to  be  about  to  make  seem  to 
have  been  intended  simply  to  raise  money.  It  is  more 
than  probable  that  instead  of  desiring  to  reveal  the 
secrets  of  Freemasonry,  his  purpose  was  merely  to 
blackmail  its  initiates  through  fear  of  exposure.  He 
does  not  seem  to  have  had  any  valid  claim  to  the  name 
of  patriot  or  reformer,  and  certainly  was  in  no  sense  a 
man  fit  to  be  made  a  popular  idol  in  his  life,  or  likely 
to  be  revered  as  a  martyr  after  his  death. 

Nor  was  he  so  revered.  The  people  cared  noth' 
ing  for  William  Morgan  as  a  man,  alive  or  dead.  It 
was  only  the  idea  that  a  society,  extending  through- 
out the  whole  country,  and  embracing  among  its 
members  a  vast  majority  of  the  most  wealthy,  cul- 
tured, and  refined  citizens,  including  nearly  all  the 
prominent  political  leaders,  had  a  hold  upon  its 
members  which  they  regarded  as  paramount  to  the 
sanction  of  the  law  of  the  land,  that  made  his  death  a 
matter  of  general  concern.  It  was  the  apprehension 
of  peril  to  popular  liberty,  free  government,  and  equal 
rights,  that  roused  the  masses  of  the  people  to  a  frenzy 
of  fanaticism  that  has  never  been  equaled  in  our  his- 
tory. It  was  not  so  much  the  apprehension  of  crime, 
or  the  fear  that  justice  would  be  corrupted,  but  th5i 
idea  that  there  existed  in  the  Republic  an  oath  bound 
body  of  men,  who    were   pledged  to   aid  and  favor 


SETTING   THE  KEY-STONE.  121 

each  other  in  all  things.     It  was  against  them  as  a 
privileged  class — as  unduly  favored  citizens — that  the 
.public  wrath  burned  hot. 

The  fiercest  of  popular  frenzies  was  that  Anti- 
masonic  movement  which  followed  hard  upon  the  dis- 
appearance of  Morgan  in  1826.  I  wish  I  could 
'  give  you  some  idea  of  its  lurid  intensity  as  I  have 
gathered  it  from  the  study  of  the  public  prints  of 
that  day,  as  well  as  from  the  lips  of  ancient  crafts- 
men and  their  most  active  opponents.  It  was  a 
political  difference  that  impugned  the  personal  char- 
acter of  every  man  who  ventured  to  uphold  one  side 
of  the  controversy.  To  the  Antimason  every  Mason 
was,  of  necessity,  a  criminal.  If  not  actually  a 
murderer,  he  was  solemnly  pledged  to  commit  mur- 
der, should  the  interests  of  the  craft  or  the  peril  of  a 
fellow-craftsman  demand  it.  He  was  unfit  to  be  a 
freeman,  because  he  was  a  member  of  a  great  con- 
spiracy to  destroy  equality  of  right  and  privilege.  The 
Churches  took  cognizance  of  membership  of  the  lodge 
as  an  act  of  immorality,  and  expelled  all  who  did  not 
publicly  renounce  their  obligations.  To  be  a  Mason 
was  everywhere  held  an  act  requiring  excuse.  Thou- 
sands of  members  publicly  withdrew,  or  rather,  as 
withdrawal  from  the  order  is  a  thing  unknown  and 
impossible,  formally  renounced  Masonry.  Lodges 
were  disbanded  and  charters  surrendered,  until  there, 
remained  in  some  States  hardl}'  a  skeleton  of  the 
organization.      Members  were  often  afraid  to  ackiiowl- 

II 


122  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

edge  themselves  such  from  actual  fear  of  per- 
sonal violence.  Men  even  refused  to  recognize 
the  hailing  signs  of  the  craft  from  fear  of  betrayal. 
A  century  before — perhaps  at  any  previous  time — 
such  fierce  fanaticism  could  only  have  been  allayed 
by  the  shedding  of  blood. 

Thanks  to  the  freedom  and  flexibility  of  our 
political  system,  it  found  a  peaceful  outlet.  In  1828 
four  States  elected  Antimasonic  governors.  In  every 
State  the  charge  of  Masonic  affiliation  was  a  serious 
imputation  against  any  public  man.  At  least  two 
candidates  for  the  Presidency  publicly  disavowed  all 
active  relation  with  the  institution,  or  personal  recog- 
nition of  its  obligations.  Whether  another  had  or 
had  not  been  initiated  is  perhaps  hardly  yet  deter- 
mined. Few  men  were  chosen  to  any  office  for  a 
decade  who  did  not  openly  declare  their  non-affilia- 
tion or  publicly  renounce  their  vows,  such  was  the 
fierceness  of  the  popular  clamor. 

Aside  from  its  peculiar  character  and  purpose, 
this  was  a  notable  uprising  of  the  people — an  asser- 
tion of  the  public  will  that  took  no  account  of 
party  lines,  trampled  popular  leaders  in  the  dust,  and 
mocked  at  existing  political  methods.  It  was  a  re- 
volt afjainst  self-constituted  leaders  and  self-declared 
representation.  It  may  have  been  right  or  it  may 
have  been  wrong  in  its  estimate  of  the  peril  that 
threatened.  That  is  a  matter  of  little  moment  now. 
Probably  it    was   not    entirely  right    nor    altogether 


SETTING   THE  KEY-STONE.  1 23 

wrong.  Certainly  very  few  believe  that  there  is  any 
danger  now  to  be  apprehended  from  the  institution 
then  so  greatly  dreaded.  What  remains  to  us  of 
value  from  this  lurid  conflict  of  half  a  century  ago 
is  the  fact  that  it  marks  the  first  institution  of  a 
plan  of  organization  expressly  designed  to  im- 
press upon  the  government  the  convictions,  of  a 
distinct  body  of  the  American  people.  Out  of 
Antimasonry  was  born  our  present  party  system. 
Throwing  aside  as  insufficient  the  existing  political 
agencies,  the  Antimasons  held  the  first  national  dele- 
gate convention,  formulated  a  platform,  prescribed  a 
ratio  of  representation,  and  subordinated  every  part 
of  the  new  organization,  from  the  lovvest  to  the 
highest,  to  popular  control.  From  this  first  delegate 
national  convention  in  1830,  until  the  present  time, 
no  party  has  dared  take  any  important  step  except 
in  the  name  of,  and  with  the  claim  of  express  author- 
ity from,  the  individuals  of  which  it  is  composed. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  every  step  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  our  party  system  has  been  but  a  natural  re- 
sult of  the  impulse  of  self-government  which  is 
inherent  in  the  American  people.  At  first  non- 
representative  control  was  discarded ;  then  pseudo- 
representation  was  set  aside ;  and,  finally,  the  simple 
yet  effective  system  which  has  now  become  so  familiar 
to  us,  that  we  find  it  hard  to  realize  that  it  has  not 
always  existed,  was  inaugurated.  From  first  to  last, 
the  movement  has  been  a  persistent,  at  times  even  a 


124  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

passionate,  revolt  against  what  we  should  now  term 
"ring-rule"  and  "bossism." 

To  say  that  it  has  not  always  served  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  designed,  is  simply  to  assert  its 
human  origin.  That  it  has  more  nearly  accomplished 
this  purpose  than  any  other  known  instrumentality 
is  an  incontestable  fact.  It  is  only  when  organized 
ambition  coexists  with  general  and  culpable  neglect, 
on  the  part  of  its  members,  however,  that  the  Amer- 
ican system  of  party  organization  can  be  made  to  lend 
itself  to  any  other  purpose  than  the  due  enforcement 
of  the  popular  will.  How  this  is  sometimes  done,  and 
how  it  may  be  prevented,  we  shall  presently  inquire. 


X. 

A  SHEAF  OF  FIRST-FRUITS. 

We  have  seen  that  our  present  part}'  sj-stem  is 
an  outgrowth  of  the  popular  tendency  towards  the 
direct  control  of  public  affairs  by  the  people  them- 
selves. It  may  be  interesting  to  note  the  fact  that 
simultaneous  with  this  movement  there  has  been  a 
remarkable  popularization  of  our  government  itself, 
showing  a  constant  and  irresistible  tendency  of  power 
to  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  a  growing  disap- 
proval of  those  methods  which  interpose  an  inter- 
mediary between  the  source  of  power  and  its  appli- 
cation. Of  this  tendency  there  are  two  very  notable 
evidences. 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  Presidential  Elec- 
tors were  transformed  from  independent  self-directing 
entities  into  mere  passive  instruments  of  the  majority 
by  which  they  are  chosen.  The  framers  of  the  Con- 
stitution no  doubt  intended  that  the  Electors  should 
choose  a  President  and  a  Vice-President  in  the  man- 
ner prescribed,  and  according  to  their  own  convic- 
tions of  fitness  and  capacity.  Before  the  third  Presi- 
dential election,   however,  the   Electors  had  become 

125 


126  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

mere  agents  of  the  popular  will ;  that  is,  they  were 
expected  to  vote  only  for  those  whom  the  popular 
majority  preferred.  This  was  at  first  accomplished 
without  changing  the  method  of  choosing  these 
officials.  The  Federal  Constitution  directs  that 
"each  State  shall  appoint''  Electors  "in  such  manner 
as  the  Legislatures  thereof  shall  direct."  It  was  no 
doubt  intended  that  the  several  Legislatures  ///««- 
.y^/z^^5  should  "appoint"  the  Electors,  the  qualifying 
phrase,  "in  such  manner  as  they  shall  direct,"  being 
designed  to  apply  merely  to  the  method  of  proce- 
dure, whether  viva  voce,  by  joint  ballot,  or  the  two 
houses  acting  separately.  In  accordance  with  this 
idea,  the  Electors  were  appointed  by  the  Legislatures 
of  all  the  States  until  1812,  by  all  but  two  in  1 8 16, 
and  even  in  1824  the)^  were  still  chosen  by  the  Leg- 
islatures of  Delaware,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  New  York, 
South  Carolina,  and  Vermont. 

As  the  people  began  to  break  away  from  the 
idea  of  personal  leadership  and  individual  followings 
and  learn  the  real  significance  of  popular  power,  they 
begfan  to  clamor  for  a  more  direct  control  of  what 
had  already  been  popularly  named  the  "Electoral 
College."  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  for  nearly  a  score 
of  )'ears,  this  meeting  of  the  official  Electors  had  no 
name  or  specified  form  of  organization  under  our 
laws,  but  was  popularly  known  almost  from  the  first 
as  the  "Electoral  College."  It  was  insisted  when 
the    popular    demand    for    specific    control   of    this 


A  SHEAF  OF  FIRST-FRUITS.  1 2/ 

peculiar  feature  of  our  national  government  began  to 
assume  positive  shape,  that,  as  the  Legislature  had 
the  power  to  "direct"  how  the  "State"  should 
"appoint  "  Electors,  they  had  the  discretion  to  remit 
that  duty  to  the  people.  Another  view  of  the  sub- 
ject was  that  since  the  people  constituted  the 
"State,"  the  power  to  appoint  Electors  inhered  in 
them,  and  the  Legislature  were  only  clothed  with 
power  to  regulate  the  method  of  appointment.  This 
was  no  doubt  a  strained  construction  of  the  constitu- 
tional intent ;  but  the  people  so  willed  it,  and  it  was 
done — done,  too,  in  many  instances,  without  serious 
opposition,  so  natural  and  almost  insensible  was  the 
transition  of  power  from  the  few  to  the  many,  from 
the  center  to  the  circumference.  Almost  contempo- 
raneously with  the  birth  of  the  modern  party,  there- 
fore, the  people  assumed  direct  control  of  the  choice 
of  Electors  in  all  the  States  except  South  Carohna, 
where  they  continued  to  be  appointed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture until  1868. 

Another  notable  indication  of  the  popularization 
of  our  government,  attendant  upon  or  resulting  from, 
the  evolution  of  our  present  party  system,  is  the  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  elective  offices — especially  at 
the  North.  Previous  to  1820,  by  far  the  greater  part 
of  the  administrative  and  judicial  officers  of  the  States 
were  appointed,  either  by  the  executive  alone  or  by 
the  executive  acting  in  conjunction  with  one  or  both 
branches   of   the    Legislature.      Coincident    with  the 


128  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

assertion  of  popular  power  in  the  direction  and  control 
of  the  party  came  the  demand  for  popular  control  of 
these  offices.  So  that  at  the  present  time  the  county 
offices  in  all  the  Northern  States,  all  township  officers 
except  justices  of  the  peace  in  three  of  them,  munici- 
pal officers  in  all  except  one,  all  judges  of  courts  of 
record,  except  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  two, 
and  of  the  inferior  courts  in  one,  are  elective.  In  short, 
it  may  be  said  that  all  the  legislative,  executive,  judi- 
cial, and  administrative  functionaries  of  the  Northern 
States  are  now  chosen  directly  by  the  people.  The 
.same  system  of  complete  local  self-government  was 
generally  introduced  into  the  States  of  the  South  by 
the  constitutions  of  1868,  which  were  formed  on  North- 
ern models  and  represented  Northern  ideas.  With  the 
overthrow  of  these  governments  in  1876,  there  came, 
however,  a  return  to  the  appointive  system  that  had 
prevailed  before  the  War  of  Rebellion.  So  that  the 
governor  of  a  single  Southern  State  now  appoints 
more  officials  than  those  of  half  a  dozen  of  the  more 
populous  States  of  the  North.  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  popular  control  of  the  party — the  voluntary 
republic  wliich  exists  within  the  national  organism — 
has  always  been  indicative  of  a  tendency  to  direct 
popular  control  of  the  functions  of  government. 

Another  indication  of  the  tendency  which  has 
grown  up  under  the  present  party  system  is  the  in- 
clination to  what  IS  termed  "centralization"  in  our 
national  government.     Curiou-sly  enough,  in  an  indi- 


A  SHEAF  OF  FIRST-FRUITS.  1 29 

vidual  sense,  it  is  not  centralization  at  all,  but  simply 
an  inclination  to  transfer  power  from  the  States,  acting 
as  such,  to  the  people  of  all  the  States,  acting  indi- 
vidually. This  has  manifested  itself  in  the  assertion  of 
the  rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  equality 
before  the  law  in  all  the  States;  the  national  super- 
vision of  elections  for  members  of  Congress  and 
Presidential  Electors  ;  the  extension  of  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States  courts ;  the  regulation  of  inter- 
state commerce  ;  the  assertion  of  congressional  control 
over  the  electoral  count  and  in  many  other  ways, 
which,  though  they  may  not  seem  significant  to  the 
casual  observer,  to  the  student  of  our  political  history 
are  indicative  of  a  most  remarkable  change  in  the 
character  and  tendency  of  our  institutions.  It  is  a 
singular  fact,  and  one  that  should  not  be  lost  sight 
of,  ill  estimating  the  value  of  our  present  party 
system,  that  every  modification  of  our  governmental 
organism  which  has  resulted  from  its  adoption,  has 
been  an  extension  of  individual  right — an  enhance- 
ment of  individual  power  as  contradistinguished  from 
the  claim  of  power  by  artificial  groups.  Tlie  domain 
of  national  citizenship  has  been  greatly  enlarged  and 
that  of  statal  citizenship  correspondingly  restricted  by 
its  operation. 

This  change  to  direct  from  indirect  control  of  affairs, 
is  looked  upon  with  apprehension  by  many  who 
regard  as  peculiarly  sacred  the  ideas  of  those  who 
are  reverently  referred  to  as    "the  founders  of  our 


I30  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

government;"  meaning,  by  that  phrase,  the  men  who 
devised  our  constitutional  system.  Such  are  apt  to 
consider  what  are  often  termed  the  "safeguards"  of 
the  Federal  Constitution  with  peculiar  veneration. 
They  look  upon  our  national  prosperity  in  all  its 
phases,  as  chiefly  the  result  of  constitutional  restric- 
tions, forgetful  of  the  fact  that  its  greatest  peril, 
the  "War  of  Rebellion,"  was  a  direct  and  unmis- 
takable result  of  the  existence  of  two  of  these  vaunted 
"safeguards."  To  such,  the  "intention  of  the 
fathers  "  and  the  wisdom  ' '  of  the  founders  of  our  gov- 
ernment "  are  far  more  important  than  the  popular 
tendencies  which  inspired  their  conduct  or  have  since 
so  greatly  modified  its  results.  They  regard  the  glory 
of  the  American  republic  as  due  rather  to  the  ' '  checks 
and  balances  of  the  Constitution"  than  to  the  inherent 
character  of  our  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  who  look  upon 
the  restriction  of  State  authority  to  local  and  muni- 
cipal affairs  alone,  and  the  extension  of  direct  popular 
control  of  the  national  government,  as  a  healthful  and 
desirable  tendency.  These  regard  our  government 
as  not  so  much  an  invention  as  a  growth,  an  evolu- 
tion— the  result  of  antecedent  conditions  and  continu- 
ing forces.  The  American  RcpubHc  seems  to  their 
apprehension  indebted  for  strength,  prosperit)-,  and 
freedom,  less  to  the  form  of  its  written  Constitution 
than  to  the  instinct  for  self  government,  the  intelli- 
gence, the  moderation,  and  self-control  of  its  people. 


A  SHEAF  OF  FIRST-FRUITS.  131 

It  is  not  the  wise  devices  of  the  fathers,  but  the  inborn 
kingliness  of  her  sons,  making  them  always  ready  to 
accept  responsibiUty  and  ever  cautious  in  the  exercise 
of  power,  which  has  saved  the  nation  from  the  ills 
that  have  overborne  other  democracies.  The  fathers 
were  fearful  of  the  extension  of  individual  power. 
They  dreaded  the  popular  will.  Even  the  Capital  City, 
named  after  the  "Father  of  his  Country,"  was  laid 
out  under  his  immediate  supervision  with  the  express 
purpose  of  being  easily  defensible  in  the  event  of 
popular  uprisings  which  he  feared.  With  little  clamor, 
and  almost  without  stain  of  blood,  the  people  whom 
the  fathers  of  the  Republic  distrusted,  have  seized  the 
power  that  was  so  carefully  guarded  against  their 
expected  assaults,  and  have  made  the  restrictive  forms 
that  were  intended  to  baffle  their  dangerous  inclina- 
tions, mere  instruments  for  carrying  into  effect  their 
imperial  will.  To  the  voluntary  instrumentalities 
devised  and  shaped  to  enable  the  popular  will  to  be 
more  readily,  clearly,  and  certainly  ascertained  and 
enforced,  we  no  doubt  owe  our  national  integrity  and 
the  sense  of  imperial  grandeur  that  is  beginning  to 
attach  to  our  national  renown. 

Our  party  system  has  lifted  the  will  of  the  majority 
to  a  place  of  more  than  royal  dignity.  The  sovereign 
will  of  the  Republic  has  become  something  more  than 
a  mere  fanciful  hypothesis.  The  right  to  rule  depends 
no  longer  on  exploded  theories  or  dubious  specula- 
tion.    The  will  of  the  majority  fully  expressed,  care- 


132  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

fully  ascertained,  and  faithfully  recorded, — this  is  the 
sovereign  power  of  the  Republic,  Every  life  is  pledged 
to  the  maintenance  of  its  supremacy,  not  merely  by 
the  formal  obligation  of  allegiance,  but  by  the  instinct 
of  justice  and  the  impulse  of  self-interest.  The  people 
are  kings,  and  the  concurrent  will  of  the  majority  is 
"the  lord  paramount"  of  the  realm.  Party  is  simply 
a  method  which  the  people  have  devised  and  elabo- 
rated for  ascertaining  what  this  concurrent  will  may 
be,  and  for  carrying  it  into  effect  when  ascertained. 
With  this  instrumentality  the  civic  triumphs  of  our 
past  have  been  won,  and  to  it  more  than  to  any  other 
influence,  the  peace,  prosperity,  and  glory  of  the 
Republic  are  due.  It  has  not  always  worked  without 
friction,  nor  have  its  results  been  always  of  an  un- 
objectionable character.  It  is  sometimes  foolishly 
claimed  to  have  been  the  cause  of  war,  while  it  is 
unquestionably  entitled  to  credit  for  inculcating  that 
reverence  for  the  popular  will  which  enabled  the 
nation  to  surmount  every  obstacle  and  defend  the 
citadel  of  liberty  from  every  assault. 

It  is  very  well,  my  young  friend,  that  you 
should  be  always  awake  to  perils  that  may  impend 
from  a  too  blind  devotion  to  party,  but  do  not  ever 
forget  that  to  this  wonderful  outgrowth  of  the  pop- 
ular instinct  for  self  direction,  which  the  conditions 
of  our  American  life  alone  seem  able  to  have  gen- 
erated, we  owe  our  deliverance  from  the  perils  of 
that    half-chaotic    epoch    when    factional    strife  -  and 


A  SHEAF  OF  THE  FIRST-FRUITS.  1 33 

individual  ambition  had  not  yet  been  wholly  sub- 
ordinated to  the  popular  will.  Other  republics  have 
been  overthrown  by  the  conflict  of  leaders  and  the 
clash  of  personal  ambitions.  Thanks  to  our  American 
party  system,  we  have  thoroughly  learned  two  great 
lessons, — that  no  man  is  so  wise,  so  great,  or  so  re- 
liable as  a  party,  and  that  no  party  has  any  claim  to 
supremacy  save  by  the  express  will  and  approval  of  a 
majority  of  its  members.  By  the  invention  of  this  sim- 
ple yet  mighty  mechanism,  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  shown  themselves  wiser  than  those  wise 
and  patriotic  men  who  sought  to  control  their  action 
and  protect  them  even  from  themselves.  They  have 
dethroned  and  disarmed  the  popular  leader,  and  taken 
from  the  struggle  for  supremacy  the  supremely  dan- 
gerous factor  of  personal  ambition.  The  political 
leader  has  become  the  mere  agent  and  creature  of  his 
party.  He  can  be  an  aspirant  for  favor  only  by  its 
permission ;  he  triumphs  only  through  its  indorse- 
ment, and  is  cast  aside  at  its  pleasure.  It  pulls  down 
the  proudest  and  lifts  up  the  lowliest.  It  is  only  when 
its  power  is  weakened  that  rebellion  occurs;  and  only 
when  it  shall  be  destroyed  that  usurpation  will  be- 
come possible.  Thus  far  it  remains  the  most  valuable 
element  of  America's  contribution  to  the  science  of 
human  government. 

Whatever  may  be  the  tendency  of  power  in  the 
future,  whether  towards  the  extension  of  federal  con- 
trol and  the  enhancement  of  the  privilege  of  national 


134 


LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 


citizenship  or  not,  you  will  readily  perceive  how 
essential  it  becomes  to  the  future  safety  of  the  Re- 
public that  this  strange  agency  which  has  grown  up 
Avilhin  its  linnits  should  be  fully  apprehended  and 
wisely  administered  by  the  people,  whose  chosen 
weapon  it  is.  As  it  has  been  designed  and  forged 
by  the  popular  will  of  the  past,  so  it  must  be  pol- 
ished and  tempered  by  the  patience,  steadfastness, 
and  patriotism  of  the  present  and  the  future. 


XI. 

THE  INVISIBLE  REPUBLIC. 

I  HAVE  called  our  modern  party  a  voluntary  re- 
public. Did  you  ever  think  how  perfect  and  com- 
plete a  democracy  it  is  in  theory,  and  how  simple 
and  effective  in  its  unrestricted  operation?  Let  us 
resolve  it  into  its  elements,  and  see  what  they  are. 
Let  us  examine  the  laws  by  which  its  action  is  reg- 
ulated, and  see  how  little  machinery  is  necessary  to 
control  such  mighty  combinations.  Let  us  consider 
its  legislative  methods,  its  administrative  mechanism, 
and  determine,  if  we  can,  where  and  how  and  why 
it  has  proved  itself  deficient  or  harmful,  how  the 
various  evils  may  be  remedied,  and  what  duty  is  in- 
cumbent upon  you  as  a  citizen  of  the  Republic,  in 
connection  with  its  operation  and  amendment. 

First,  then,  you  Avill  keep  in  mind  that  each  of 
the  great  parties  of  to-day  is  composed  of  more  than 
twenty  thousand  primitive  democracies,  which  are 
properly  termed  primaries.  They  are  sometimes,  but 
improperly,  designated  caucuses.  As  we  have  already 
seen,  the  term  caucus  is  properly  applied  onlj'  to  a 
self-constituted  and    unauthorized   body.     The  term, 

135 


136  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

probably,  had  its  origin  in  the  clandestine  meetings 
of  patriots  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  So  far  as  known,  the  word  is  of  Boston 
origin,  and  meant,  at  the  outset,  a  secret  meeting  for 
the  purpose  of  determining  upon  a  common  course 
of  action  in  regard  to  some  public  matter.  After- 
wards it  was  applied  to  any  sort  of  secret  political 
consultation.  As  we  have  alread)'  seen,  the  Legis- 
lative Caucus  was  a  secret  consultation  of  all  the 
members  of  a  specific  party  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture as  the  self-constituted  organ  of  that  party.  At 
one  time  it  assumed  to  prescribe  rules  and  make 
nominations  for  the  party.  The  same  was  true,  as 
we  have  seen,  of  the  Congressional  Caucus.  Both 
of  these  were  secret,  or  rather  exclusive,  meetings  of 
members  of  a  party  belonging  to  such  legislative 
bodies. 

Such  organizations  as  these  still  remain,  and  bear 
the  same  designation  ;  but  they  no  longer  assume  to 
perform  anj'  such  function.  The  Legislative  or  Con- 
gressional Caucus  of  to-day  is  simply  a  meeting  of 
the  members  of  a  party,  who  are  also  members  of  a 
legislative  body,  to  determine  what  action  shall  be 
taken  in  regard  to  measures  pending  or  to  be  intro- 
duced before  the  body  to  which  they  belong.  The 
careless  use  of  this  term  is  probably  responsible  for 
more  political  nonsense  than  any  other  one  thing  con- 
nected with  our  politics.  The  voluntary  cabal,  the 
legislative  party  council,  and  the  party  primary, — all 


THE  INVISIBLE  REPUBLIC.  1 37 

these  are  bunched  together  and  held  up  to  public 
opprobrium  as  "caucuses,"  and  we  are  then  treated 
to  long  and  labored  disquisitions  on  the  terrible 
enormities  of  that  mysteriously  compounded  monster 
"  King  Caucus!" 

The  truth  is,  that  there  never  was  a  political 
movement  among  the  people  of  any  country  in  which 
there  were  not  secret  consultations  among  the  leaders. 
Concert  of  action  is  a  necessity,  and  effective  concert 
demands  secrecy.  Before  a  public  meeting  can  be 
held,  there  must  always  be  private  consultation. 
This  is  a  "caucus,"  in  its  primary  sense — nothing 
more  and  nothing  less.  In  every  legislative  body,  of 
whatever  sort  or  character  since  the  world  began,  there 
has  always  been  the  legislative  caucus  or  some  equiv- 
alent of  it.  In  the  British  Parliament  the  ' '  whip  "  and 
the  "conference  of  leaders"  take  the  place  of  the 
vote  of  the  caucus.  These  forms,  or  their  equiva- 
lents, are  essential  to  popular  government  and  par- 
liamentary legislation.  But  the  primary — so  often 
misnamed  the  "caucus" — is  peculiar  to  the  Amer- 
ican party  system,  and  is  the  first  distinctive  feature 
that  demands  your  attention.  It  consists — except  in 
the  case  of  a  few  great  cities,  which  exception  will 
be  considered  at  length  hereafter — of  a  public  meet- 
ing, open  to  all  who  are  in  effective  sympathy  with 
the  party  it  represents,  regularly  organized  with  a 
duly  elected  president  and  secretaries,  governed  by 
regular  parliamentary  rules,   in   which  all  the  voters 

12 


138  LETTERS  TO  A  ICING. 

of  the  township  or  precinct  in  which  it  is  held,  who 
belong  to  a  specific  political  party,  have  an  equal 
right  to  participate — to  speak  and  to  vote. 

This  miniature  republic  has  three  specific  func- 
tions: I.  To  legislate  for  itself;  that  is,  to  prescribe 
rules  for  the  government  of  the  party  within  that 
precinct,  which,  however,  must  not  be  inconsistent 
with  the  general  laws  governing  the  party  at  large 
and  prescribed  by  its  higher  tribunals.  2.  To  choose 
its  own  leaders ;  that  is,  to  elect  its  own  officers,  to 
nominate  candidates  for  local  offices  and  to  appoint 
an  executive  committee  to  organize  and  direct  party 
action  in  the  precinct.  3.  To  exercise  its  due  share 
of  influence  in  the  government  and  control  of  the 
whole  party;  that  is,  to  elect  delegates  to  represent 
it  in  the  next  higher  council  of  the  party,  according 
to  a  previously  prescribed  ratio  of  representation, 
which  is  usually  determined  by  the  number  of  votes 
cast  for  the  party's  candidate  at  the  last  preceding 
general  election. 

The  county  convention,  which  is  the  second  step 
in  the  nice  gradation  of  party  government,  exercises 
in  like  manner  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial 
power.  Composed  entirely  of  regularly  elected  dele- 
gates from  the  various  primaries  within  its  jurisdiction, 
it  determines  the  ratio  of  representation  by  which  the 
number  from  each  is  to  be  ascertained  ;  prescribes 
rules  for  the  government  of  the  party  in  the  county ; 
nominates  county  candidates;  names  a  county  execu- 


THE  INVISIBLE  REPUBLIC.  \  39 

tive  committee,   and  chooses  delegates  to  the  State 
and  congressional  district  conventions. 

The  congressional  district  convention  prescribes 
the  ratio  of  representation  from  the  various  counties 
of  which  the  district  is  composed,  and  the  time  and 
manner  of  their  selection;  nominates  the  congres- 
sional candidate  of  the  party  for  that  district,  and 
quadrennially  selects  delegates  to  the  national  con- 
vention and  names  a  candidate  for  Presidential  elector. 

The  State  convention,  made  up  of  delegates  from 
the  various  counties,  legislates  for  the  party  in  the 
State ;  prescribes  the  ratio  of  representation  from  the 
counties;  nominates  candidates  for  State  offices; 
names  a  State  executive  committee  ;  selects  delegates 
from  the  State  at  large  to  the  national  convention  ; 
names  candidates  for  Presidential  electors  for  the 
State  at  large,  and  defines  the  party  policy  as  regards 
State  affairs. 

The  national  convention  is  made  up  of  delegates 
(i)  from  the  various  congressional  districts  of  the 
country,  and  (2)  from  the  several  States,  the  whole 
being  based  upon,  and  following  very  closely,  the 
model  of  the  federal  government,  the  delegates  from 
the  districts  being  the  equivalent  of  the  members  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  delegates  at 
large  representing  the  senatorial  power  of  the  State. 
It  prescribes  the  ratio  of  representation ;  decides 
contests  from  the  different  States  and  districts ;  nom 
inates   candidates   for   President   and  Vice  President  ; 


I40  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

names  a  National  Executive  Committee;  formulates 
the  party  policy  on  national  questions,  and  authori- 
tatively defines  its  purpose  and  traditions. 

I  have  not  recapitulated  these  things,  my  young 
friend,  because  of  any  doubt  that  you  are  already 
familiar  with  each  of  them  as  independent  facts,  but 
lest  you  might  not  have  noted  their  mutual  interde- 
pendence, and  the  chain  of  relation  that  extends 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  and  so  have  failed  to 
appreciate  the  harmony  between  the  various  parts  of 
the  voluntary  republics  that  have  grown  up  Avithin 
the  nation,  and  are  at  constant  warfare  with  each 
other  for  its  political  control — a  warfare  that  is  in 
itself  the  evidence  of  peace  and  stability,  as  well  as 
the  guarantee  of  liberty  and  progress. 

No  doubt  it  would  seem  to  an  observer  not  fa- 
miliar with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  that  this  vol- 
untary republic  was  but  a  servile  imitation  of  the 
political  forms  and  institutions  with  which  it  is  con- 
nected. A  glance  will  assure  you  that  it  is  a  far 
simpler  system  than  that  embodied  in  the  Federal 
Constitution.  The  reason  of  this  is,  no  doubt,  that 
the  government  was  framed  by  speculative  statesmen, 
versed  in  the  accepted  tenets  of  political  philosophy, 
while  the  party  is  the  product  of  popular  instinct, 
and  is  yet  almost  entirely  unmodified  by  legal  en- 
actment. 

The  first  difference  you  will  note  between  these 
voluntary   republics   and   the    conventional    ones    to 


THE  INVISIBLE  REPUBLIC.  141 

whose  subdivisions  and  convolutions  they  have  so 
readily  adapted  themselves,  is  the  absence  of  restrict- 
ive or  corrective  agencies.  If  the  individual  member 
of  a  party  is  denied  his  right,  or  debarred  of  his 
privilege  as  a  citizen  of  the  voluntary  republic,  he  has 
before  him  two  remedies,  exile  or  retaliation  ;  that 
is,  he  may  either  abandon  his  party  and  deprive  it 
of  his  support,  or  actively  seek  to  compass  its  defeat 
and  overthrow.  Which  of  these  courses  it  is  his 
duty  to  adopt  depends  on  circumstances  we  shall 
consider  hereafter. 

It  will  be  noted,  also,  that  the  balance  between 
national  and  statal  power — or  rather  between  popular 
and  statal  control — which  is  so  carefully  maintained 
in  the  Federal  Constitution,  is  almost  discarded  in 
the  voluntary  republic  or  party.  Though  there  is  a 
double  representation  in  the  national  convention — 
from  the  States  as  well  as  from  the  districts — this  is 
always  a  joint,  instead  of  a  separate  representation. 
The  delegates  from  the  States  and  districts  sit  to- 
gether in  the  same  body,  voting  and  acting  conjointly, 
so  that  the  one  can  hardly  be  termed  a  check  upon 
the  other.  By  this  means  the  State  representation 
becomes  merely  an  added  increment  of  the  popular 
power.  The  analogy  of  two  houses  constituting  one 
legislative  body,  which  prevails  not  only  in  the  fed- 
eral government,  but  in  each  one  of  the  States,  is 
discarded  in  the  party. 

This  has  been  regarded  by  some  of  the  most  careful 


142  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

students  of  our  political  history  as  a  serious  defect. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  the  tendency  of  all  popular 
assemblies  is  to  be  carried  away  by  the  feeling  of  the 
moment.  Whether  this  is  a  defect  in  an  organiza- 
tion of  this  character,  however,  may  well  be  ques- 
tioned. ' 

One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  tendency  has  been 
from  the  first  decidedly  against  restriction.  This  has 
been  especially  notable  in  the  Republican  party, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  in  a  modified  sense  the 
representative  of  the  federalistic  idea ;  that  is,  it  rep- 
resents and  maintains  the  idea  of  the  supremacy  of 
the  nation  as  against  the  paramount  sovereignty  of 
the  individual  States.  This  view  is,  however,  modi- 
fied by  an  express  inclination  to  the  popularization 
of  the  federal  government  itself,  which  has  been 
manifested  not  less  in  its  party  organization  than  in 
the  legislation  it  has  inspired.  Previous  to  the  con- 
vention of  1880,  State  representation  was  secured  in 
that  party  by  allowing  a  majority  of  delegates  from 
each  State  to  control  the  entire  number  of  its  votes. 
This  rule  was  at  that  time  discarded,  and  the  major- 
ity required  to  control  its  action  is  now  made  up  by 
the  votes  of  delegates  irrespective  of  State  major- 
ities. The  two-thirds  rule  which  obtains  in  Dem- 
ocratic national  conventions  is  a  notable  instance  of 
a  self-restricting  provision,  enforced  with  the  most 
rigorous  and  inflexible  faithfulness.  Its  results  in 
1844   and    i860,   however,   have  led    many  to  doubt 


THE  INVISIBLE  REPUBLIC.  1 43 

its  wisdom.  A  shrewd  political  observer  has  said 
that  the  War  of  Rebellion  was  the  direct  result  of  its 
enforcement. 

Another  difference  that  will  strike  the  thoughtful 
observer  is,  that  in  the  voluntary  republic  all  the 
functions  of  government  are  united  in  one  body. 
You  may,  perhaps,  think  that  this  attribution  of  leg- 
islative, judicial,  and  executive  functions  to  these 
bodies  is  somewhat  fanciful,  but  you  will  soon  learn 
that  the  control  of  a  party  requires  not  less,  but 
rather  more,  skill  and  sagacity  than  the  government 
of  a  nation.  You  will  no  doubt  be  surprised  on  your 
first  admission  to  the  councils  of  a  party  to  learn  how 
largely  the  judicial  function  is  developed,  and  what  a 
mass  of  common  law  peculiar  to  each  party  has  grown 
up  in  our  fifty  years  of  government  under  this  system. 
In  one  of  our  late  national  conventions  a  delegate 
cited  in  support  of  a  position  he  had  assumed  the 
action  of  a  national  convention  of  1844,  of  whose 
proceedings  there  is  no  detailed  record,  he  having 
received  his  information  from  his  father,  who  was  a 
prominent  member  of  that  body.  No  one  thought 
of  questioning  it,  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  the 
action  of  the  convention  was  sensibly  influenced  by 
this  precedent.  So,  too,  the  legislative  function — 
the  formulation  of  new  principles  and  effective  enun- 
ciation of  accepted  doctrines  and  traditions — is  a 
work  requiring  the  very  highest  statesmanship,  the 
ripest  experience,   and  broadest  knowledge  both  of 


144  LETTERS  TO  A  KING.- 

political  history  and  the  popular  tendency,  as  well  as 
the  highest  literary  skill. 

To  these  voluntary  republics  of  ours,  you  Avill  see 
that  the  individual  may  sustain  four  distinct  relations, 
to  wit:  (i)  That  of  the  private  citizen — the  simple 
voter  in  the  primary  ;  (2)  that  of  the  delegate — the 
representative  exponent  of  the  collective  will  and 
purpose  of  a  group  of  citizens  in  an  assembly  made 
up  of  representatives  from  constituent  bodies;  (3) 
that  of  a  candidate  or  leader  selected  to  represent 
the  principles  and  carry  the  standard  of  his  party; 
and  (4)  that  of  the  executive  agent  or  committee, 
having  in  charge  its  financial  matters  and  generally 
vested  with  the  judicial  and  executive  functions  nec- 
essary to  the  administration  of  its  affairs. 

The  duties  of  the  citizen  in  a  government  by 
parties  in  the  American  sense  come,  therefore, 
naturally  to  be  considered  under  these  heads:  (i) 
The  primary  —  its  organization,  conduct,  and  the 
rights,  privileges,  and  duties  of  its  members ;  (2)  the 
delegate — his  duties  and  obligations ;  (3)  the  candi- 
date— his  duties  and  relations  ;  and  (4)  the  executive 
committee — their  functions  and  privileges.  You  will 
find  the  discussion  of  these,  I  trust,  not  only  inter- 
esting and  profitable,  but  touching  perhaps  some 
questions  more  vital  to  our  liberties  than  j^ou  have 
hitherto  supposed  to  be  dependent  on  this  phase  of 
our  political  life. 


XII. 
THE  RANK  AND  FILE. 

It  has  been  been  demonstrated  over  and  over 
again,  in  the  history  of  warfare,  that  success  de- 
pends not  so  much  upon  a  knowledge  of  grand  strat- 
egy, tactical  skill,  excellence  of  organization  or  per- 
fectness  of  equipment,  as  on  the  personal  qualities 
of  the  individuals  of  whom  an  army  is  composed. 
While  leadership  and  strategy  can  by  no  means  be 
dispensed  with,  it  is  the  fortitude,  courage,  and  reso- 
lution of  the  individual  soldier  on  which  the  hope 
of  victory  must  ultimately  rest.  The  raw  levies 
which  your  father  led  to  victory  in  the  early  days 
of  our  great  conflict  were,  no  doubt,  inspired  to  the 
performance  of  immortal  deeds  by  the  force  of  his 
heroic  example;  but  of  far  more  consequence,  as 
affecting  the  grand  result,  than  the  skill  or  even 
the  example  of  their  leaders,  was  the  earnest  convic- 
tion shared  by  every  one  of  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  importance  of  the  conflict  in  which  they  were 
engaged,  and  the  sacredness  of  the  cause  for  which 
they  fought. 

A  soldier,  after  all  that  has   been   said  about  the 

13  145 


146  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

value  of  subordination  in  an  army,  is  not  a  mere 
machine.  Simple  obedience  to  the  command  of  a 
superior  does  not  make  a  man  a  hero.  The  German 
battalion  who  set  their  backs  against  the  wall  of  a 
cemetery  in  the  Franco-Prussian  war  and  held  their 
position  until  every  man  had  fallen,  were  kept  in 
place  not  so  much  by  the  habit  of  obedience  as  by 
the  sentiment  of  "Fatherland"  that  animated  them. 
It  was  not  the  discipline  on  board  of  Nelson's  ships, 
nor  the  gallantry  and  skill  of  the  stern  old  sea-dogs 
who  commanded  under  him,  that  made  the  French 
admiral  exclaim  to  those  who  stood  about  him 
on  his  quarter-deck,  "Now  all  is  lost;"  but  the 
shouts  that  went  up  from  the  lips  of  the  British 
sailors  when  they  saw  flying  from  the  flag-ship 
that  stern  challenge  to  individual  patriotism  and 
devotion,  "England  expects  every  man  to  do  his 
duty."  Discipline  may,  indeed,  do  much  to  secure 
the  soldier's  efficiency.  A  thorough  knowledge  of 
all  that  may  be  required  of  him,  and  an  established 
habit  of  prompt  obedience  to  the  directing  will  of 
his  superior,  are  unquestionably  essential  to  his  very 
highest  effectiveness,  but  these  are  comparatively 
valueless  without  that  readiness  to  do  and  dare  which 
springs  only  from  an  intelligent  conviction — a  press- 
ing individual  sense  of  duty  or  necessity. 

In  a  party — which  is  only  an  army  by  which  the 
bloodless,  but  very  often  more  important,  victories 
of  peace  are  won  in  a  republic — the  same  principle 


THE  RANK  AND  FILE.  147 

holds  good  and  even  applies  with  far  greater  force,  be- 
cause to  the  rank  and  file  of  a  party  is  intrusted,  not 
merely  the  task  of  maintaining  a  united  front  against 
the  assaults  of  the  enemy,  but  also,  the  duty  of 
naming  the  leaders  who  must  direct  the  conflict,  and 
of  marking  out  the  strategical  lines  on  which  the  bat- 
tle must  be  fought.  In  fact,  the  American  citizen 
serving  in  the  ranks  of  a  party,  instead  of  being  a 
mere  insignificant  atom,  whose  only  duty  is  to  stand 
up  and  be  counted  at  each  November  Ides,  is  like 
the  Greek  soldier  of  the  olden  time,  leader  at  once 
and  servitor,  since,  as  was  eloquently  said  of  his 
prototype,  "In  one  day  he  may  be  called  upon  to 
stand  in  the  council  of  the  chiefs  and  serve  in  the 
front  rank  of  the  squadron."  As  a  citizen,  he  rules 
through  the  ascendency  of  the  party  he  helps  both 
to  shape  and  direct ;  as  a  partisan,  he>  serves  with 
ready  but  intelligent  subordination  under  the  leaders 
he  has  helped  to  name,  and  who  control  and  direct 
only  by  virtue  of  his  authorization.  What  are  the 
duties,  rights,  and  privileges  attaching  to  a  citizen  as  a 
member  of  a  political  party  ?  This  is  among  the  most 
important  questions  which  one  standing  on  the  verge 
of  active  manhood  can  possibly  ask  himself,  and  one 
which  he  should  by  all  means  seek  intelligently  and 
properly  to  answer. 

The  relations  which  the  citizen  may  sustain  to 
the  party  to  which  he  belongs  are  of  a  threefold 
character,  each  of  which  brings  with  it  peculiar  obli- 


148  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

gations  and  entails  peculiar  duties.  Each  confers 
certain  rights  and  is  affected  by  specific  limitations. 
These  three  relations  may  be  defined  as  follows: 

1.  That  of  a  voter  who  believes  in  the  party's 
principles,  accepts  its  polic}',  and  votes  for  its  can- 
didates— the  simple  private  in  the  ranks  of  the  great 
army  which  fights  for  the  supremacy  of  a  specific 
principle,  policy,  or  purpose. 

2.  That  of  a  delegate — the  representative  of  the 
will  and  power  of  a  subordinate  body  of  the  party 
by  virtue  of  which  he  becomes  a  member  of  another 
body  of  higher  power  or  more  extended  jurisdiction. 

3.  That  of  a  candidate  seeking  the  favor  of  his 
party  in  the  form  of  a  nomination,  and  its  support 
in  order  to  secure  his  election. 

In  these  several  relations  the  obligations  resting 
on  the  party  and  the  individual  are  mutual,  perform- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  one  constituting  the  sole 
basis  of  obligation  on  the  part  of  the  other. 

The  rights  attaching  to  mere  individual  member- 
ship in  a  party  are  based,  not  on  the  favor  of  other 
individuals,  but  on  the  fact  of  mutual  interest.  They 
rest  upon  the  common  obligation  which  devolves 
upon  every  member  of  such  a  body  to  treat  with 
equal  consideration  and  to  offer  equal  opportunity 
to  each  and  every  one  who  supports  its  policy, 
maintains  its  power,  and  promotes  its  aims.  It  is  a 
basis  of  mutual,  voluntary,  and  natural  obligation. 
The  party,  as  a  whole,  is  indebted  to  the  individual 


THE  RANK  AND  FILE.  149 

for  maintaining  its  policy ;  the  individual  is  beholden 
to  the  party  for  carrying  into  effect  the  views  he  en-, 
tertains.  The  relations  of  the  individual  to  his  party 
are,  therefore,  those  naturally  growing  out  of  an 
equal  partnership  among  many,  intended  to  secure  a 
common  purpose  for  the  equal  advantage  of  all. 
The  ngJits  of  the  individual  thus  become  obligations 
of  the  party,  and  the  duties  of  the  individual  rights 
of  the  party.  The  rights  of  the  individual  member 
of  any  party  may  be  classed  as  follows : 

1.  Every  voter  who  supports  a  party's  policy  and 
votes  for  its  nominees,  is  of  right  entitled  to  a  voice 
and  vote  in  the  part}'  primary  of  the  precinct  in 
which  he  resides. 

2.  He  is  entitled  to  receive  due  and  ample  notice 
of  each  and  every  meeting  of  the  same. 

3.  He  is  entitled  to  an  equal  voice  with  every 
other  member,  in  the  organization  and  control  of  the 
primary ;  and  also, 

4.  To  demand  that  there  shall  always  be  a  fair 
vote,  fairly  counted  and  rnade  effectual  in  the  election 
of  its  officers,  the  choice  of  delegates,  and  the  selec- 
tion of  candidates. 

These  rights,  though  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  the  country  as  a  whole  and  to  the  citizen  as  an 
individual,  are  none  of  them  guaranteed  by  law, 
except  in  some  States,  or  parts  of  States,  a  specific 
statutory  notice  of  the  holding  of  a  caucus  or  primary 
is    required,    and  in  a  very  few  there  are  statutory 


I50  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

provisions  regulating  the  election  of  delegates.  Tlie 
definition  and  protection  of  these  rights  is  as  yet  a 
fresh  field  for  legislation,  but  one  in  which  the  neces- 
sity for  intelligent  regulation  has  become  apparent  and 
which  requires  only  a  more  general  appreciation  of 
its  feasibility  and  advantage  in  order  to  secure  the 
attention  it  deserves.  Just  as  long  as  our  people 
regard  "practical  politics"  as  synonymous  with 
fraud  and  trickery,  and  Christian  men  who  would 
scorn  to  lie  or  steal  or  bribe  for  profit,  insist  that  the 
good  of  the  country  demands  that  men  should  lie 
and  steal  and  bribe  in  order  to  secure  political  su- 
premacy— so  long  as  it  is  deemed  respectable  to  buy 
votes  or  buy  delegates,  it  will  not  be  thought  neces- 
sary or  desirable  to  define  or  protect  the  rights  of  a 
citizen  as  a  member  of  a  party.  Until  that  time 
arrives,  these  rights  can  only  be  secured  by  unre- 
mitting vigilance  and  rugged  determination  on  the 
part  of  every  one  entitled  to  the  benefits  thereby 
secured. 

The  duties  which  the  individual  member  owes  to 
his  party  are : 

1.  A  faithful  attendance   upon  the  meetings  of 
the  primary. 

2.  An    earnest    and    candid  consideration   of  all 
subjects  coming  before  it  for  determination. 

3.  The   faithful   and   upright    performance   of  all 
duties  imposed  upon  him  by  it. 

If  these  duties  were  faithfully  performed   by  the 


THE  RANK  AND  FILE.  I5I 

honest  and  reliable  members  of  all  parties,  the  need 
of  statutory  regulation  of  the  primary  would  be  very 
greatly  reduced  ;  for,  after  all,  the  neglect  of  political 
duty  by  good  men  is  the  chief  source  of  all  suffering 
from  misgovernment  by  bad  men  ! 

The  duties  of  a  delegate,  chosen  to  represent  the 
power  of  a  constituent  body,  are  those  of  an  ordinary 
aeent  vested  with  more  or  less  of  discretion,  accord- 
ing  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  attending  his  selec- 
tion. He  is  bound  in  honor  to  act  for  those  he 
represents,  and  not  for  himself,  and  to  act  as  his  judg- 
ment may  decide  would  be  for  the  interest  of  those 
he  represents,  or  of  the  associated  body  of  which 
they  are  a  part.  These  duties  are  simple  and  easily 
defined.     They  are : 

1.  Faithfully  and  honestly  to  use  the  authority 
vested  in  him  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  in- 
tended, according  to  the  best  of  his  ability. 

2.  Faithfully  to  perform  the  duties  of  any  position 
to  which  he  may  be  chosen  in  the  convention  of 
which  he  is  a  member  by  virtue  of  the  authority 
delegated  to  him. 

Bribery  and  "log-rolling"  are  the  besetting  sins 
of  delegates.  It  has  become  customary  for  men  to 
seek  these  positions  for  the  sake  of  direct  or  indirect 
advantage  to  themselves,  and  to  use  the  power  con- 
ferred upon  them,  not  with  any  regard  for  the  wishes 
of  their  constituents,  but  for  their  own  personal  emol- 
ument or  advancement.      It  is  a  form  of  dishonesty 


152  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

that  is  neither  punished  by  law  nor  frowned  upon 
by  good  society.  A  man  who  would  not  dream  of 
committing  a  crime  will  betray  the  trust  reposed  in 
him  by  his  neighbors,  "swap"  a  vote  which  he 
holds  by  reason  of  their  confidence,  for  his  own  ad- 
vantage, and  go  home  and  address  the  Sunday- 
school  on  the  duty  of  honesty,  without  a  blush. 
You  will  help  to  form  public  opinion  on  this  subject, 
especially  in  your  own  party.  If  you  wish  to  be 
esteemed  an  honest  man,  and  be  fairly  dealt  with 
by  your  fellows,  you  will  see  to  it  that  your  in- 
fluence and  example  are  given  always  in  favor  of 
honest  delegates.  To  betray  such  a  trust  ought  to 
be  a  sin  so  infamous  as  forever  to  exclude  the  man 
committing  it  from  respectable  society. 

It  may  seem  to  you  absurd  to  speak  of  the  rights 
and  duties  of  a  candidate  seeking  nomination  at  the 
hands  of  his  party,  especially  in  view  of  two  con- 
flicting theories  in  regard  to  this  relation,  one  or  the 
other  of  which  may  be  said  to  prevail  almost  univer- 
sally. One  of  these  theories  is,  that  a  man  has  no 
right  to  make  a  canvass  or  seek  preferment  at  all; 
the  other,  that  he  may  do  any  thing  not  expressly 
interdicted  by  the  law,  in  furtherance  of  such  a  de- 
sign. The  former  doctrine  is  utterly  untenable  as  a 
proposition  of  political  ethics;  because,  however 
commendable  it  may  be  thought  as  a  rule  of  indi- 
vidual action    to  refrain    from    seeking    preferment, 


THE  RANK  AND  FILE.  1 53 

it  can  not  be  regarded  as  at  all  improper  to  seek 
political  support,  since  the  maintenance  of  important 
political  principles  may  render  such  a  course  absolutely 
necessary.  If  done  in  a  proper  manner,  the  canvass 
for  a  nomination  or  an  election  must  be  considered 
an  honorable  thing  to  be  done,  however  repugnant 
to  the  feelings  of  the  individual  it  may  sometimes  be. 
The  rights  and  duties  reciprocally  attaching  to  this 
relation  are : 

1.  Such  aspirant  has  a  right  to  receive  due  notice 
of  the  meeting  of  the  nominating  body  and  of  all 
bodies  sending  delegates  thereto ;  that  the  same  shall 
be  fairly  organized,  and  due  opportunity  be  given  for 
all  to  be  heard ;  that  the  vote  be  honestly  taken  and 
truly  canvassed. 

2.  His  duty  is  to  refrain  from  the  use  of  dishonest 
methods  to  advance  his  own  interests,  such  as  appeals 
to  the  self  interest  of  delegates  rather  than  the  general 
interest  they  were  chosen  to  represent. 

I  do  not  wish  to  weary  you  with  unnecessar}'^  detail, 
my  young  friend,  nor  ask  you  to  speculate  in  regard 
to  a  state  of  affairs  not  likely  to  be  realized  or  even 
approximated  while  human  nature  remains  what  it  is. 
A  glance  at  the  category  of  rights  and  duties  above 
given  will  enable  you  to  perceive  at  once  the  defects 
in  our  present  party  system,  where  it  is  liable  to  abuse 
and  how  its  deficiencies  may  be  remedied  You  will 
observe  that  it  is  possible  for  the  will  of  the  majority 


154  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

to  be  subverted  and  the  party  machinery  employed 
to  defeat  rather  than  to  express  the  will  of  the  party 
by  any  of  the  following  acts: 

1.  By  failure  to  admit  and  recognize  all  members 
of  the  party  as  members  of  the  primaries  or  caucuses, 
or  by  wrongfully  admitting  those  not  entitled,  so  as 
to  overwhelm  the  honest  majority,  thereby  giving 
effect  to  the  will  of  a  minority  instead. 

2.  By  failing  to  give  due  and  sufficient  notice  of 
the  time  and  place  of  meeting  of  primaries  or  other 
constituent  bodies. 

3.  By  the  neglect  of  individual  members  to  attend 
the  party  primaries,  assert  their  rights,  and  make 
effective  their  convictions. 

4.  By  the  bribery  of  persons  entitled  to  vote  at 
the  primaries. 

5.  By  false  canvass  or  return  of  the  votes  cast. 

6.  By  the  betraj'al  of  the  trust  reposed  in  them 
by  delegates  to  representative  conventions. 

It  is  believed  that  this  classification  embraces  all 
the  methods  by  which  the  legitimate  functions  of  party 
organizations  have  hitherto  been  perverted  to  the 
detriment  of  the  public  welfare.  It  will  be  seen  that 
all  but  three  of  them  imply  actual,  intended,  and  delib- 
erate fraud  on  the  part  of  the  perpetrators.  No  man 
can  take  part  in  or  be  privy  to  one  of  them  and  claim 
thereafter  to  be  an  honest  or  an  honorable  man. 
One  of  them  is  the  result  of  a  negligence  hardly 
less  criminal  than  premeditated   fraud,  and   one  only 


THE  RANK  AND  FILE.  I  5  5 

may  sometimes  be  accounted  the  result  of  faulty 
organization. 

This  latter  is  the  case  alluded  to  in  a  former  letter 
in  which  the  original  plan  and  idea  of  our  system  of 
party  organization  had  been  departed  from  in  some 
great  cities — notably  in  New  York.  This  departure 
briefly  stated,  consists  in  packing  the  primaries  by 
excluding  from  them  all  who  are  not  regularly  elected 
and  approved  by  certain  organizations  existing  in  each 
ward  and  precinct,  and  claiming  to  be  the  party, 
within  the  limits  to  which  their  organization  extends. 
By  this  means  one-half  and  in  some  instances  three- 
fourths  of  the  rightful  members  of  a  party  have  been 
not  only  disfranchised  in  the  party  councils,  but  their 
votes  and  strength  have  been  used  to  give  weight  to 
the  plans  of  the  usurpers  in  delegate  conventions, 
affecting  the  action  of  a  party  in  State,  and  sometimes 
even  in  national  affairs. 

This  is  a  fault  of  organization  for  which  the 
parties  in  the  States,  where  it  exists,  are  directly 
and  unmistakably  responsible.  That  it  justifies  open 
and  effective  revolt  there  is  no  question,  and  that 
It  will  be  amended  just  so  soon  as  that  revolt  is 
made  persistent  and  effectual,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
Such  a  system  is  in  itself  a  suggestion  of  evil,  and 
a  standing  temptation  to  the  perpetration  of  fraud. 
It  destroys  confidence  in  all  political  agencies,  and 
is  a  fruitful  cause  of  that  state  of  society  in  which 
the   citizen    ceases    to    be   a   governing    factor,    and 


156  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

becomes  the  mere  tool  of  the  "boss."  Except  in 
these  instances,  the  fundamental  right  of  the  voter 
to  a  voice  and  a  vote  in  the  primary  of  the  party  to 
wliich  he  belongs  has  never  been  openly  denied  in 
theory,  however  often  it  may  have  been  defeated 
in  fact. 

The  power  of  the  individual  voter  as  a  member 
of  a  party  —  which  is  really  the  key-stone  of  all 
political  power  in  the  Republic — has  often  been 
rendered  nugatory  by  the  neglect  of  the  voter  to 
assert  and  exercise  this  right,  and  by  the  use  of 
fraudulent  methods  to  control  the  action  of  the  pri- 
m,f».ries.  The  former  evil  is  curable  only  by  increased 
diligence  and  faithfulness  on  the  part  of  the  voters 
themselves.  The  others,  too,  while  they  may  be 
restricted  somewhat  by  statute,  must  look  for  a  per- 
manent cure  to  the  forum  of  public  opinion  and  the 
vigilance  of  awakened  political  conscience. 

The  prevalence  of  neglect  in  political  duties  of 
this  sort  is  usually  as  little  realized  as  its  danger  is 
rarely  understood.  A  careful  comparison  of  the 
opinions  of  a  large  number  of  men  having  the  best 
of  opportunities  to  make  reliable  estimates  upon  the 
subject,  shows  that  in  the  States  of  the  North  at  least, 
no*:  more  tJian  one  fifth  of  the  voters  of  ajiy  party  habit- 
ually attend  its  primaries !  This  neglect  not  only 
affords  opportunity  for  fraud,  but  is  in  itself  an  actual 
fraud  of  the  gravest  character  upon  every  other  voter, 
who  has  an  express  right  to  demand  that  such  mem- 


THE  RANK  AND  FILE.  1 57 

ber  of  the  voluntary  republic  to  which   he  belongs 
shall  do  his  full  duty. 

Another  branch  of  this  subject,  the  prevalence 
and  extent  of  intended  fraud  in  party  councils,  or  in 
other  words,  dishonesty  as  an  element  of  party 
politics — its  extent,  causes,  and  curability,  will  be  the 
subject  of  our  next  letter. 


XIII. 

"THE  HONOR  OF  THY  LORDLINESS!" 

I  APPROACH  the  subject  of  personal  dishonesty  as 
an  element  of  political  action  with  a  peculiar  feeling^ 
of  diffidence,  almost  I  may  say,  of  irritation.  It 
is  a  subject  in  regard  to  which  more  has  been  said 
and  less  has  been  done  than  any  other  phase  of  polit- 
ical life.  Perhaps  I  may  also  say  that  its  relation 
to  the  individual  citizen  seems  to  be  less  clearly  un- 
derstood than  almost  any  other  phase  of  his  duty. 
To  suggest  such  a  thing  as  honor  or  honesty  in  the 
exercise  of  the  kingly  power  devolved  upon  the  citi- 
zen, is  generally  deemed  an  absurdity  so  great  as  to 
insure  the  man  who  ventures  to  do  so,  the  opprobri- 
ous epithet  of  "crank."  Upon  no  other  subject  has 
there  been  so  much  impractical,  absurd,  and  conse- 
quently useless  speculation  and  so  little  practical 
effort  for  amendment  or  reform.  Let  us  see,  even 
at  the  risk  of  being  termed  a  "crank,"  if  a  little 
sharp  anah'sis  will  not  help  us  to  a  clearer  under- 
standing of  the  subject — whether  it  is  really  essential 
that  the  citizen  king  should  be  a  liar  and  a  rogue,  in 
order  to  be  a  patriot. 
158 


''THE  HONOR  OF  THY  LORDLINESS?"  1 59 

In  the  first  place  it  may  be  well  to  inquire  what 
constitutes  personal  dishonesty  in  politics.  In  order 
to  institute  such  an  inquiry  upon  a  fair  and  compre- 
hensive basis,  let  us  consider  first  what  would  consti- 
tute an  absolute,  fair,  and  honest  political  status. 
Reverting  to  the  analysis  already  given  of  our  poHt- 
ical  system,  we  shall  see  that  the  following  specific 
elements  are  indispensably  necessary  to  such  a  con- 
dition of  affairs : 

1.  That  every  member  of  each  party  should  have 
due  and  ample  notice  of  the  meeting  of  the  party 
primaries. 

2.  That  he  should  have  an  indefeasible  right  to 
an  equal  voice  in  the  management  and  control  of 
the  same. 

3.  That  he  should  act  freely  and  without  the  bias 
of  corrupt  intent,  compulsion,  or  deception  in  all  his 
party  relations. 

4.  That  he  have  ample  opportunity  to  give  ex- 
pression to  his  wishes  at  the  ballot-box ;  that  neither 
deception,  force,  nor  the  desire  for  personal  advan- 
tage be  allowed  to  overpower  his  conviction  as  to  the 
public  interest ;  and  that  the  result  of  his  action  be 
in  all  cases  rendered  effectual  by  due  and  proper 
returns. 

5.  That  the  agents  selected  to  represent  the  will 
of  the  majority,  both  in  the  constituent  councils  of 
the  party  and  at  the  polls,  shall  honestly  and  faith- 
fully perform  their  duties  as  such. 


l6o  LETTERS  TO  A   KING. 

Whatever  is  done,  directly  or  indirectly,  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  an}'  of  these  results  is  an  act 
of  personal  dishonesty  in  politics. 

If  you  will  turn  back  a  few  pages,  my  young 
friend,  and  read  again  the  category  of  individual  rights 
and  duties,  you  may  find  it  to  include  acts  you  never 
dreamed  of  reprobating.  You  will  see  that  whoever, 
by  force  or  fraud,  by  false  representation,  or  by  cor- 
rupt procurement,  obstructs,  hinders,  or  misleads  a 
voter  in  the  exercise  of  his  rights  or  privileges  as  a 
member  of  a  party  or  as  a  part  of  the  collective 
sovereignty,  or  renders  such  action  inoperative  by 
the  corrupt  exercise  of  power  conferred  on  him  by 
the  favor  of  others,  is  guilty  of  an  act  of  personal 
dishonesty,  and  is  an  enem)'  of  good  government. 

This  may  seem  to  you  a  very  sweeping  accusa- 
tion ,  yet  it  is  true  in  all  its  parts.  The  man  who 
corrupts,  diverts,  or  renders  inoperative  any  portion 
of  the  collective  intelligence,  which  we  call  the  will 
of  the  majority,  and  which  constitutes  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  nation,  is  better  only  in  degree  than  the 
foulest  traitor  that  ever  organized  rebellion,  and  is 
morally  on  the  level  of  the  thief  and  the  liar,  it  mat- 
ters not  how  good  a  motive  he  may  profess,  or  how 
exalted  a  sense  of  patriotism  he  may  claim  to  have 
inspired  his  action.  The  man  who  buys  votes  at  a 
primary  is  no  whit  better  than  the  man  who  corrupts 
a  judge  of  election  or  falsifies  a  return.  The  man 
who  knowingl)'  deceives  a  voter  is  precisely  on  a  par 


•«  THE  HONOR  OF  THY  LORDLINESS r  l6l 

with  the  man  who  deters  one  from  the  performance 
of  his  duty  by  threats  of  bodily  harm.  The  briber 
and  the  "bull-dozer"  are  precisely  equal  in  moral 
delinquency.  The  former  is  somewhat  more  despi- 
cable because  his  act  has  not  even  the  semblance  of 
boldness,  or  the  flavor  of  courage  about  it.  The 
man  who,  by  any  sort  of  trick,  by  any  form  of  force 
or  fraud,  by  bribery  or  "bull-whacking,"  by  mis- 
direction of  the  ignorant  or  by  the  proscription  of 
the  timid — any  man  who,  by  any  of  these  acts,  de- 
bases the  ballotorial  power  of  a  single  citizen,  en- 
dangers the  fabric  of  free  government  and  adds  just 
so  much  to  the  mass  of  personal  dishonesty  in  our 
politics.  Morally  he  is  just  as  nefarious,  and  per- 
sonally he  ought  to  become  just  as  infamous,  be- 
cause of  such  an  act,  as  if  he  had  stolen  your  money, 
assailed  your  life,  or  conspired  to  overthrow  the  Re- 
public by  force  of  arms. 

"Well,"  I  hear  you  say,  with  the  air  of  one 
whose  wisdom  settles  in  a  breath  the  whole  question, 
"the  time  will  never  come  when  these  things  will  be 
unknown  in  politics." 

In  this  you  are  undoubtedly  correct,  my  young 
friend ;  yet  upon  no  other  subject  would  you  ever 
think  of  advancing  an  argument  so  absurd  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  inaction  or  a  reason  for  failure  to  condemn  an 
admitted  wrong.  It  is,  however,  the  stock  argument, 
the  excuse  apparently  deemed  unanswerable  by  many  * 
who  treat  of  this  evil.      One  might  say  with  equal 

14 


1 62  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

verity,  that  the  time  will  not  come,  at  least  in  any  cal- 
culable period,  when  murder  and  rape  and  robbeiy  and 
larceny  will  be  unknown  in  any  community;  but  you 
would  never  think  of  alleging  that  fact  as  an  excuse 
for  failure  to  reprobate  or  even  a  failure  to  punish 
these  crimes.  Why  the  distinction  ?  Simply  because 
the  time  has  already  come  when  such  crimes  are 
accounted  despicable,  opprobrious,  and  dangerous  to 
community.  A  murderer  is  regarded  with  horror ; 
a  thief  is  branded  with  infamy;  even  a  liar,  whom 
the  law  can  not  touch,  is  looked  upon  with  aversion 
and  shut  out  of  society  by  his  offense.  But  to  He 
and  steal  and  bribe  at  a  primary ;  to  corrupt  the  bal- 
lot ;  to  falsif}-  the  popular  verdict ;  to  mislead  the 
ignorant  or  deter  the  timid, — these  things  are  not 
regarded,  even  by  the  respectable  and  moral  element 
of  our  society,  as  in  any  appreciable  sense  derogatory 
to  the  character  or  standing  of  the  person  engaged 
in  them. 

These  very  things  it  is  believed  and  expected  that 
every  candidate  and  every  party  manager  will  do 
or  furnish  the  means  for  doing;  and  the  fact  that 
one  has  openly  confessed  or  is  universally  believed 
to  have  done  so,  does  not  injuriously  affect  his 
standing  in  his  party,  in  society,  or  even  to  any 
considerable  extent,  in  the  Church.  If  politics  be, 
as  has  been  said,  "a  traffic  in  putrid  things,"  it  is 
simply  because  the  public  shows  itself  not  offended 
by  the  stench.     The  politician  is  an  exact  index  of 


' '  THE  HONOR  OF  TH  Y  L  ORDLINESS!  "  1 63 

the  moral  sentiment  and  sense  of  public  duty  of  his 
constituents.  If  you  take  the  moral  average  of  any 
community,  throwing  in  the  idlers  and  evaders  of 
political  duty,  who  are  the  greatest  of  all  political 
offenders,  you  will  find  that  it  exactly  reaches  the 
moral  altitude  of  the  local  "boss." 

An  indubitable  proof  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact 
that  men  boast  of  such  exploits  in  good  society,  and 
people  laugh  at  the  shrewdness  displayed  but  never 
dream  of  showing  anger  or  disgust  at  the  wrong 
committed.  Men  may  commit  murder,  burglary, 
or  rape;  but  they  do  not  go  into  refined  Christian 
society  to  boast  of  it !  We  cultivate  and  encourage 
the  political  trickster,  and  then  scold  at  his  exploits ! 

"How  did  I  make  the  riffle?"  said  a  congress- 
man, referring  to  his  election  in  a  district  confessedly 
opposed  to  him  in  political  sentiment.  ' '  Weil,  I 
found  out  just  what  sort  of  paper  and  type  were 
being  used  for  printing  my  opponent's  tickets,  and 
got  a  few  thousand  out  with  my  own  name  on  them, 
and  had  them  put  in  the  hands  of  voters  who  could 
not  read,  or  did  not  stop  to  see  what  they  were 
doing.  Before  the  thing  was  found  out,  there  were 
enough  of  them  in  the  boxes  to  .settle  the  matter. " 
"What  was  said  when  it  was  discovered?" 
"Every  body  thought  it  was  a  pretty  sharp 
trick.  Of  course  the  fellow  who  got  left  tore  around 
some,  and  cut  up  a  good  deal  of  turf;  but  what  could 


1 64  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

he  do  ?  I  had  a  right  to  print  my  tickets  just  as  I 
chose,  and  they  could  not  show  that  the  voters  did 
not  mean  to  vote  them." 

The  man  who  made  this  declaration  stands  higrh 
in  the  councils  of  his  party,  is  well  received  in 
society,  is  an  eminent  member  of  a  Christian  Church, 
and  was  recently  cited  by  name  in  a  leading  Church 
paper  as  a  notable  example  of  political  morality! 

/  "Our  opponents  sent  about  three  hundred  coal- 
burners  into  my  district  three  months  before  the 
election,  and  we  hired  five  hundred  wood-choppers 
to  help  them !"  said  another  in  explanation  of  a  like 

^  success. 

"  I  was  offered  ten  thousand  dollars  to  help  A 


in  that  contest,"  said  a  man  who  prides  himself  on 
representing  a  high  ideal  of  political   purity;   "but 

being  a  personal  friend  of  B ,  of  course  I  could 

not  take  it!" 

Both  the  matter-of  fact  tone  and  the  reason  given 
were  very  suggestive.  The  inference  was  unavoid- 
able, that  he  would  have  taken  the  bribe  if  he  had  not 
been  a  personal  friend  of  the  other  candidate.  This 
conversation  was  held  in  the  public  sitting-room  of 
a  hotel,  and  was  a  part  of  a  reminiscent  soliloquy 
addressed  to  the  delegates  to  a  State  convention. 

"That  was  a  lively  time,"  said  a  party  worker  in 
a    country    county,    referring    to    a    recent  election. 


^^THE  HONOR  OF   THY  LORDLINESS!"         165 

"Our  candidate  was  a  little  squeamish  about  such 
things,  but  he  gave  me  a  thousand  dollars  and  said : 
'/  do  n't  want  to  know  zvhat  you  do  with  it/'  Of 
course,"  said  the  narrator,  with  a  suave  accent  of 
unneeded  explanation — ''of  course,  I  put  every  cent 
of  it  where  it  would  do  the  most  good.''  Just  where 
that  was  he  did  not  explain. 

"Do    you  know   how   A was  defeated    for 

senator?"  asked  one  public  man  of  another  in  the 
smoking  compartment  of  a  railway-train.  "You 
see  we  knew  a  messenger  was  on  the  way  from  the 
governor,    announcing    a   vacancy.     If   a   vote    was 

taken  then,  we  knew  A would  be  elected.     The 

presiding  officer  was  on  our  side,  but  timid,  you 
know — had  n't  nerve.  We  wanted  him  to  declare 
an  adjournment  before  the  messenger  arrived.  He 
said  he  would  if  a  majority  voted  for  it.     We  knew 

they  wouldn't,   but  Senator    B said:    'Just  put 

me  in  the  chair  and  I  will  adjourn  the  thing,  no 
matter  how  they  vote.'     No  sooner  said  than  done. 

B took  the  chair ;  I  made  the  motion,    and   in 

two  minutes  we  were  adjourned.     That 's  what  saved 

us.      B received  a  great  deal  of  praise  from  the 

'reform'  papers  for  his  promptness  and  courage." 

So  blunted  has  become  our  public  sense  that 
this  was  done  in  the  much-abused  name  of  "  reform," 
and  commended  by  recognized  professional  "re- 
formers," because  it  rid  them  of  a  man  they  feared. 


1 66  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

The  end  may  have  been  good  ;  but  alas  for  the  path 
\>y  whicli  it  was  reached,  and  the  sentiment  that  jus- 
tifies wrong. doing  for  the  sake  of  a  desired  result! 

"  I  paid  more  for  the  votes  of  the  delegates  from 

the  town   of  N ,  for   three   years   in  succession, 

than  the  whole  State  and  county  tax  of  the  town 
during  that  time,"  said  a  local  politician,  boastfully, 
to  a  group  of  his  admirers.  The  town  he  referred 
to  is  one  of  the  most  moral  and  intelligent  communi- 
ties in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  delegates 
Avho  systematically  sold  themselves  and  their  fellows 
were  among  its  most  honored  and  respected  citizens. 

"  I  find  it  the  best  plan  to  do  my  own  work,  and 
do  it  between  midnight  and  morning,  too.  A  man 
will  take  money  when  you  see  him  alone  after  mid- 
night who  would  not  touch  it  before  that  time;  and 
every  man  Avill  take  from  thirty  to  fifty  per  cent  less 
then  than  earlier  in  the  day."  Such  was  the  candid 
confession  of  an  active  country  politician  to  a  group 
who  were  giving  similar  experiences  on  the  crowded 
porch  of  a  hotel  at  one  of  our  great  summer  resorts. 

It  is  a  well-known  and  universally  admitted  fact 
that  many  men  who  claim  to  be  too  high-minded  to 
corrupt  voters  or  buy  delegates,  do  not  hesitate  to 
employ  strikers  or  middlemen — brokers  in  political 
dishonor  and  corruption — to  do  their  work  for  them. 

The   result   of  this   state  of  affairs  and   its   open 


'*THE  HONOR  OF  THY  LORDLINESS!"  1 6/ 

indorsement  or  covert  approval,  is  an  almost  univer- 
sal belief  in  the  corrupt  character  of  all  political 
transactions. 

"Tell  you  what,"  said  an  enthusiastic  supporter 
of  a  candidate  for  one  of  the  highest  offices  in  a  State, 
"F  ve  been  in  politics  a  long  time,  and  seen  a  deal 

of  sharp  management,   but   B (his   favorite)  will 

make  a  httle  money  go  further,  and  do  more  good, 
than  any  man  I  ever  saw." 

"I  will  tell  you  what  I  think,"  said  an  intelligent, 
moral  young  man  at  a  town  primary  not  long  since, 
as  he  scrutinized  the  printed  ticket  for  delegates  to 
a  county  convention,  "this  thing  isn't  fair.  There 
are  A  and  B  and  C,"  pointing  to  names  on  the  ticket; 
"they  go  to  the  convention  every  year  and  make 
from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  dollars  apiece  out 
of  it!  Now,  I  think  there  ought  to  be  a  change. 
They  ought  to  stand  aside — and  give  some  of  the  rest 
of  7is  a  chance  I ' ' 

He  may  have  been  mistaken  in  the  amount  of  the 
profits,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  wanted 
a  change. 

A  few  years  ago  I  rode  from  the  depot  into  a 
country  village  with  an  omnibus  load  of  delegates  to 
a  party  convention.  They  talked  freely,  and  made 
hardly  any  concealment  of  their  intention  to  dispose 
of  their  votes  for  their  individual  advantage. 


1 68  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

"I  don't  care  what  they  say  about  it,"  said  one 
of  them.  "I  think  that  the  men  who  get  good  fat 
offices  ought  to  share  with  us  who  give  them  such 
places,  and,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  /  am  in  favor 
of  a  divvy!'* 

I  learned  afterwards  that  this  man  was  not  only 
politically  prominent,  but  was  a  business  man  of  high 
standing,  and  an  active  member  of  the  Church  in  his 
town.  It  is  a  common  rumor  in  the  county  where  he 
lives,  that  no  man  has  been  nominated  to  an  office  by 
the  dominant  party  in  a  score  of  years  without  paying 
the  "bosses"  and  their  henchmen. 

An  intelligent  farmer,  worth  several  thousand 
dollars,  said  to  a  candidate,  in  my  hearing,  a  few 
years  since  on  election-day: 

"Of  course,  I  and  my  sons  calculate  to  vote 
right,  but  we  think  we  ought  to  be  paid  for  our  day's 
work!'' 

Three  dollars  was  raised  and  three  votes  secured. 
This  man  would  feel  seriously  affronted  to  learn  that 
any  one  regarded  his  action  as  at  all  reprehensible. 
He  simply  has  the  general  impression  that  it  is 
perfectly  legitimate  to  make  money  by  politics. 

Two  years  ago  a  man  sent  a  communication  to 
a  reputable  newspaper  in  one  of  our  Eastern  cities, 
asserting  that  he  had  sold  his  vote  at  a  recent  elect 


''THE  HONOR  OF  THY  LORDLINESS!"  1 69 

tion  for  a  certain  sum,  showing  what  he  had  done 
with  the  money,  and  advocating  the  right  and  duty 
of  every  poor  man  to  do  hkewise.  I  was  impressed 
with  the  tone  of  the  letter,  and,  getting  the  man's  ad- 
dress, took  occasion  soon  afterwards  to  hunt  him  up, 
and  ascertain  his  condition  and  character.  I  found 
him  to  be  a  shoemaker,  earning  fair  wages,  of  tem- 
perate habits,  having  a  good  common-school  educa- 
tion, and  of  exemplary  life.  The  right  to  vote  he 
considered  simply  a  man's  stock  in  trade — a  privilege 
that  it  was  entirely  proper  to  make  the  subject  of 
traffic. 

Such  things  are  not  unusual  enough  to  require 
verification,  though  day  and  place  can  be  given  for 
every  one  of  the  incidents  above  related.  The  belief 
that  poHtical  success  is  a  mere  matter  of  bargain  and 
sale,  trickery  and  corruption,  is  all  but  universal 
among  all  classes  throughout  the  North.  At  the 
South,  this  form  of  corruption  of  the  popular  will  is 
probably  less  frequent.  The  debasement  of  the  ballot 
is  there  more  generally  effected  by  other  methods 
more  obnoxious  to  Northern  ideas,  but  not  by  any 
means  more  obnoxious  to  morality  or  hardly  more 
dangerous  to  popular  government.  It  is  no  worse 
to  corrupt  a  voter  through  his  fear  than  through  his 
greed ;  with  a  pistol  than  with  a  pocket-book. 

What  is  the  reason  of  this  prevalence  of  corrupt 
practices  of  politicians  of  all  parties? 

15 


y 


\ 


170  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

Simply  the  fact  that  it  is  7tot  cotisidered  immoral  or 
repreliensible  to  lie  or  cheats  to  steal  a  ballot,  buy  a 
vote,  or  corrupt  a  delegate,  in  order  to  secure  political 
success  ! 

We  have  so  thoroughly  divorced  religion  from 
politics  that  we  do  not  regard  ethical  principles  as 
applying  to  political  action.  The  very  bulwark  of 
political  jobbery  and  corruption  is  this  public  senti- 
ment that  holds  such  conduct  excusable,  and  in  a 
majority  of  cases  honorable.  Now  and  then  we  hold 
officials  responsible  for  maladministration.  In  the 
city  of  New  York,  men  are  sometimes  tried  for 
official  corruption.  Yet  the  nominations  to  the 
offices  of  the  city  are  put  up  for  sale  almost  as  openly 
as  grain  or  stocks,  and  the  very  judges  who  are  to  try 
men  for  official  malfeasance  are  as  candidates  required 
to  furnish  enormous  sums  for  the  express  purpose 
of  corrupting  party  agencies  or  electoral  power.  It 
is  because  men  believe  it  to  be  necessary  to  buy  the 
favor  of  others  in  order  to  insure  success;  because  re- 
spectable men  are  willing  to  buy,  and  respectable  men 
are  willing  to  sell,  the  political  power  they  hold,  either 
by  virtue  of  their  inherent  kingship,  or  by  the  favor 
of  their  fellows,  that  we  hear  so  often  the  excuse  that 
"in  politics  it  is  necessary  to  fight  the  devil  with 
fire."  As  a  moral  principle  this  assertion  is  on  a 
par  with  the  idea  that  trickery  is  business,  and  that 
fraud  is  essential  to  financial  success.     If  honest  men 


''THE  HONOR  OF  THY  LORDLINESS!"  171 

will  carry  their  honor  into  politics,  and  Christian  men 
will  carry  their  religion  into  their  partisan  relations, 
and  both  will  hold  personal  dishonesty  as  reprehen- 
sible in  politics  as  in  private  business,  the  charge 
will  soon  cease  to  be  made,  because  it  will  soon 
cease  to  be  true. 


XIV. 
THE  WILL  AND  THE  WAY. 

The  remedy  for  the  universal  distrust  of  political 
methods  and  aims,  discussed  in  our  last,  consists  of 
two  elements,  each  of  which  is  dependent  to  some 
extent  upon  the  other  for  its  own  efficacy. 

The  one  is  that  general  sense  of  responsibility 
and  rectitude  of  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  majority 
of  voters  which  has  already  been  so  frequently  al- 
luded to  in  these  letters.  A  willingness  to  perform 
the  voluntary  duties  of  the  citizen,  and  a  determina- 
tion to  do  their  duty  thoroughly  and  efficiently,  on  the 
part  of  all  right-minded  citizens,  is  the  prime  pre- 
requisite and  the  only  solid  basis  of  any  real  reform 
in  political  methods. 

The  man  of  education,  means,  culture,  and  Chris- 
tian character  must,  first  of  all  things,  care  enough 
about  his  duty  as  a  citizen,  esteem  sufficiently  his 
own  privileges,  the  rights  of  his  fellows,  and  the  per- 
petuity of  republican  institutions,  to  take  the  trouble 
to  learn  when  the  caucus  of  his  party  meets,  where  it 
meets,  and  arrange  his  business  so  as  to  attend  its 
meeting ;  and  when  there  he  must  be  brave  enough 
172 


THE   WILL  AND  THE  WAY.  1 73 

to  take  an  active  and  interested  part  in  its  proceed- 
ings. Until  this  is  done  no  real  reform  is  possible. 
If  the  Christian  sentiment  and  Christian  conscience  of 
the  land  are  awake  to  this  duty,  any  needful  reform 
is  not  only  feasible  but  certain  to  be  achieved.  It  is 
the  units  that  must  first  be  vivified,  however,  and 
individual  minds  and  consciences  that  must  first  be 
stirred  up  to  the  performance  of  duty.  You  must 
act  for  yourself — for  me — for  all  whose  rights,  privi- 
leges, prosperity,  every  form  of  temporal  good  and 
no  small  chance  of  eternal  salvation,  are  dependent 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree  on  your  conduct  as  a 
citizen. 

The  Church  itself  is  feeling  the  need  of  this  very 
awakening  of  personal  conscience.  You  can  not 
draw  the  temper  from  one  edge  of  the  sword  and 
leave  the  other  as  keen  and  true  as  before.  If  you 
dull  one  side  of  a  man's  conscience  the  rest  is  easily 
broken  down.  If  individual  Christians  adopt,  ap- 
prove, or  even  tolerate,  political  methods  based  on 
falsehood,  corruption,  the  violation  of  private  right 
and  perversion  of  public  trusts,  they  must  of  neces- 
sity lose,  to  some  extent,  the  power  to  distinguish 
between  right  and  wrong  in  other  respects,  and  the 
Church  suffers  contamination  thereby.  Bad  politics 
tend  to  make  weak  Churches.  The  disregard  of 
public  rights  leads  to  laxity  of  private  morals.  As 
the  sense  of  individual  responsibility  for  the  public 
welfare   is    relaxed,  care    for  the  welfare  of  common 


174  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

souls  grows  dull.  The  contribution-box  takes  the 
place  of  the  prayer-meeting;  the  Churches  go  up- 
town, and  missionaries  and  the  devil  go  down- 
town. A  few  learn  the  way  to  heaven  in  gorgeous 
temples;  the  many  travel  the  road  to  hell,  the  de- 
scent to  which  is  made  easy  by  misgovernment  and 
oppression,  until  the  editor  of  a  great  religious  jour- 
nal was  recently  able  to  say  with  bitter  verity: 
"Protestantism  is  the  rehgion  of  respectable  people, 
and  rather  glories  in  it.  In  all  civilized  lands  it  is 
getting  further  and  further  from  the  poorest  and 
worst  classes  every  year.  It  courts  the  rich  and 
powerful,  and  does  little  for  the  rabble.  We  are  led 
to  believe,  indeed,  that  it  has  little  pity  for  those 
whose  possessions  are  only  rags  and  grime,  and  that 
its  feeling  towards  them  is  rather  one  of  scorn  or  cen- 
sure than  of  commiseration." 

A  man  can  not  be  a  good  Christian  in  a  republic 
unless  he  performs  faithfully  his  public  duties,  for 
these,  even  more  than  his  private  acts,  may  be  made 
effectual  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  Christian  idea  of 
universal  beneficence. 

The  poorest  Christian  is  able  to  do  more  good  to 
humanity  by  faithfully  performing  the  duties  of  the 
citizen  than  the  alms  of  the  richest  can  accomplish. 
One  who  neglects  such  opportunities  for  doing  good 
is  a  most  unprofitable  servant  of  the  Master  whose 
livery  he  wears.  In  a  republic,  bad  government  is 
the  unfailing   index  of  a   low  moral   development — a 


THE  WILL  AND  THE  WAY.  1 75 

rotten  State  points  to  a  debased  Christian  sentiment. 
When  the  Church  courts  the  rich  and  shuns  the 
poor,  the  State  becomes  debauched,  the  poor  de- 
spised, and  the  rich  "consume  the  land."  First  of 
all  things,  therefore,  if  we  would  remedy  these  evils 
and  cure  the  public  demoralization  which  has  resulted 
from  them,  we  must  magnify  the  duty  of  the  citizen- 
king,  and  cultivate  a  sentiment  which  will  regard  the 
neglect  of  public  duty  as  a  disgrace,  and  corrupt  po- 
litical methods  not  as  mere  venial  offenses  against  an 
impracticable  code  of  ethics,  but  as  crimes  of  the 
most  dangerous  character.  As  long  as  political  of- 
fenses are  respectable,  they  will  be  frequent ;  when 
they  become  infamous,  they  will  be  rare.  When 
Christians  cease  to  wink  at  them,  scoundrels  will  be 
careful  how  they  commit  them. 

Whenever  the  necessity  of  personal  attention  to 
the  duties  of  the  citizen  is  recognized,  the  day  of 
"strikers"  and  "heelers"  will  be  at  an  end.  Then, 
instead  of  the  caucus  or  primary  being  a  den  of  pol- 
lution, and  the  ballot-box  a  nest  of  infamy,  the  for- 
mer will  become  a  dignified  and  reputable  assembly, 
and  the  latter,  watched  by  keen  eyes  and  guarded  by 
honest  hearts  and  strong  hands,  will  be  indeed  the 
sacred  ark  in  which  the  fiat  of  the  people,  which  is 
to  us  the  will  of  God,  shall  be  reverently  deposited 
and  safely  kept.  It  is  not  enough  to  boast  of  this 
institution  as  the  palladium  of  our  liberties  while  we 
leave   the   approaches   to   it    unguarded,    and    invite 


176  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

thieves   to   break  in   and  steal  the  kingly  power   it 
represents. 

The  State  of  New  York  has  an  unfinished  capital 
building  which  has  cost  nearly  a  score  of  millions  of 
dollars.  It  exceeds  in  tawdry  inconvenience,  and 
magnificent  unfitness  for  its  professed  purposes,  any 
building  ever  erected.  It  is  an  architectural  deform- 
ity of  incredible  weakness  and  unimpressive  ugliness. 
Already  it  is  tottering,  crumbling,  threatening  to  fall, 
as  if  some  blinded  Samson  in  his  wrath  at  the  enor- 
mous depravity  it  represents,  had  "bowed  himself 
between  the  pillars."  One  of  the  grandest  works  of 
American  genius — about  the  only  honest  thing  about 
the  whole  structure — is  cracked  and  seamed  and 
blurred  by  the  dripping,  shrinking  insincerity  of  its  sur- 
roundings. It  is  a  fit  temple  for  the  orgies  of  political 
depravity — a  fair  type  of  what  is  done  within  its  confines 
in  ' '  the  much-abused  name  of  liberty. "  It  is  an  index 
of  the  tendency  which  has  become  almost  universal  in 
our  land.  What  is  the  cause  ?  The  honest,  reputable, 
moral  people  of  the  State,  either  believe  in  political 
dishonesty  and  corruption  as  an  essential  prerequi- 
site of  partisan  success  or  regard  it  as  an  unavoida- 
ble concomitant  of  free  government.  They  not  only 
excuse  the  corruption  of  the  popular  will  and  misuse 
of  sovereign  power,  but  count  it  a  thing  altogether 
necessary,  if  not  commendable.  While  this  senti- 
ment exists,  what  change  is  possible  ? 

But  you  say  we  must  have  laws  to  prevent  such 


THE  WILL  AND  THE  WAY.  1/7 

things  !  It  is  one  of  the  fallacies  of  our  day  that 
every  thing  may  be  done  by  law;  that  a  bare  "thus 
it  is  written"  is  enough  to  cure  any  evil.  Whatever 
Avrong  is  called  to  our  attention,  we  say  at  once,  "Let 
us  have  a  law  to  cure  it!"  We  are  constantly  setting 
traps  for  the  devil,  then  going  to  sleep  and  wondering 
why  he  is  not  caught  in  them.  We  shirk  in  every 
conceivable  way  individual  responsibility  and  the 
personal  performance  of  public  duty.  A  man  will 
howl  himself  hoarse  by  the  year  at  a  time,  to  secure 
the  enactment  of  a  statute,  and  then  sit  down  and  see 
it  violated  every  day  without  making  complaint.  It 
is  not  his  business,  he  says.  He  declares  that  he 
helps  to  pay  men  to  enforce  the  law,  and  by  that 
means  has  shifted  responsibility  from  his  own  shoul- 
ders to  theirs.  The  very  best  citizens  will  gleefully 
relate  the  shrewd  devices  by  which  they  have  evaded 
the  performance  of  public  duty.  They  avoid  the  jury- 
box  as  studiously  as  they  neglect  the  caucus  and 
ignore  the  ballot-box.  They  leave  to  unoccupied 
loungers  and  irresponsible  officials  the  performance 
of  the  most  important  corrective  functions  of  govern- 
ment, and  then  wonder  that  crime  grows  so  enor- 
mously, that  the  prison  population  of  the  country  is 
equal  to  the  entire  population  of  the  thirtieth  city  in 
the  land,  Avhile  our  actual  criminal  population  is  esti- 
mated to  be  equal  to  that  of  the  city  which  stands 
fifth  in  rank.  A  sovereign  without  law  is  bad  enough, 
but  infinitely  better  than  mere  law  without  a  sovereign. 


178  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

The  lesson  that  meets  us  at  every  step  is,  that  the 
work  of  government  in  a  republic  can  not  safely  be 
done  by  proxy.  The  citizen  may  be  a  king  if  he 
will ;  he  is  a  king  de  jure ;  and  the  moment  he  ceases 
to  be  a  king  de  facto,  he  ceases  to  be  a  good  citizen — 
becomes  in  very  truth  a  criminal. 

That  "the  hireling  fleeth  because  he  is  a  hireling," 
has  never  been  more  forcibly  illustrated  than  by  the 
results  of  our  attempts  to  shift  the  responsibility  of 
government  upon  our  officials,  or  pack  the  burdens 
of  our  neglect  upon  the  shoulders  of  political  buc- 
caneers. Side  by  side  with  the  general  belief  in 
universal  political  corruptibility  has  grown  up  a  want 
of  confidence  in  the  administration  of  the  law  until 
justice  is  as  often  spoken  of  as  an  article  of  mer- 
chandise as  otherwise.  It  is  no  doubt  a  fact  that 
the  courts  of  the  United  States  have  been  freer 
from  venality  than  those  of  any  other  nation  known 
to  history.  After  more  than  a  hundred  years,  hardly 
a  single  case  of  provable  corruption  has  been  found 
in  the  hundred  and  forty  odd  judges  of  the  various 
State  courts  of  final  jurisdiction,  not  one  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  but  one  in 
the  inferior  national  tribunals.  Actual  crime  of  this 
sort  has  attached  in  very  few  instances  to  the  judges 
of  the  higher  State  courts,  and  the  instances  of 
probable  venality  are  hardly  more  numerous.  Un- 
fortunately, the  same  can  not  be  said  of  municipal  and 
inferior  tribunals.     Though  there  have  been  few  cases 


THE  WILL  AND   THE   WAY.  1 79 

of  Impeachment  for  malfeasance,  the  general  estimate 
of  the  integrity  of  such  officers  of  the  law  is  very  low 
indeed.  But  however  low  the  general  opinion  of  even 
the  most  suspected  class  of  judicial  officers  may  be, 
it  is  infinitely  above  the  popular  estimate  of  the 
average  juror.  It  is  not  so  much  the  idea  that  he  is 
purchasable — though  in  some  of  our  cities  it  is  claimed 
that  jury-fixing  has  become  not  only  an  art,  but  a 
profession,  and  in  very  many  there  is  a  popular  idea 
that  jury  duty  is  only  a  somewhat  "shady"  method 
of  obtaining  a  rather  precarious  livelihood — as  it  is 
belief  in  a  general  lack  of  moral  fiber  in  the  perform- 
ance of  public  duty,  that  destroys  confidence  in  the 
jury,  and  has  resulted,  during  the  last  few  years,  in 
an  astonishing  increase  of  mob  violence.  Lynching, 
which  was  formerly  confined  to  the  States  of  the  South 
and  the  unsettled  society  of  the  frontier,  is  now  almost 
as  frequent  at  the  North  and  East.  But  very  few  of 
these  States  have  of  late  been  free  from  mob  violence, 
springing  from  a  conviction,  well  or  ill  founded,  of 
the  unreliablility  of  the  popular  branch  of  our  judicial 
system.  Indeed,  it  is  not  seldom  true  that  men  who 
would  assiduously  seek  to  avoid  the  performance  of 
the  duty  of  the  juror,  at  the  demand  of  the  State,  are 
the  readiest  to  assume  the  r61e  of  Judge  Lynch,  and, 
under  cover  of  night  and  disguise,  administer  a  justice 
they  would  not  trust  themselves  to  mete  out  in  open 
day,  and  under  the  sanction  of  an  oath  in  the  jurj'-box. 
These  facts,  taken  in  connection  with  a  hundred 


l80  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

others  equally  significant,  show  that  in  our  country 
it  is  not  enough  to  have  laws  to  protect  the  ballot- 
box  and  the  primary.  A  statute  without  an  earnest, 
active,  vital  public  sentiment  behind  it,  is  worse  than 
a  dead  letter.  Law,  indeed,  is  but  the  weapon  with 
which  the  faithful  and  earnest  citizen  is  armed,  not 
merely  for  the  enforcement  of  his  own  rights,  but  for 
the  security  of  the  public.  The  remedy  you  suggest, 
therefore,  is  a  good  and  effectual  one,  only  when  you 
have  courage  and  manliness  and  zeal  enough  to 
stand  behind  the  law,  and  render  its  behests  effective. 
Will  the  American  citizen-king  stand  this  test  ?  That 
is  the  question. 

Legal  enactments,  it  is  true,  would  be  very  help- 
ful. Indeed,  they  are  in  some  instances  absolutely 
necessary,  to  enable  the  citizen  fully  and  certainly  to 
perform  his  political  duty,  and  guard  against  the  per- 
version of  the  public  will.  In  most  of  the  States  the 
ballot-box  is  alreadj'  guarded  by  adequate  enactments, 
and  the  national  government  has  provided  machinery 
of  a  very  clear  and  practical  character  for  the  regu- 
lation of  elections  for  members  of  Congress  and 
Presidential  Electors.  It  has  but  one  serious  defect, 
but  that  is  well  nigh  fatal — it  is  not  compulsory  nor 
universal  in  its  application.  The  party  primary — which 
is  the  key  to  the  ballot-box — the  decisions  of  which 
the  election  merely  affirms  or  denies,  is  practically 
unregulated  by  statute.  In  a  few  cities  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  do  so,  but  not  always  with  success; 


THE  WILL  AND   THE  WAY.  i8l 

and  never  has  such  legislation  been  of  a  thorough  or 
exhaustive  character.  The  time  has  come  when  such 
legal  regulation  can  not  be  long  delayed.  The 
elements  of  such  legislation  are  not  many,  and  its 
provisions  need  not  be  intricate  or  difficult  of  appli- 
cation.    It  should  contain  the  following  provisions: 

1.  It  should  define  party  membership  and  make 
participation  in  the  caucus  or  primary  a  recognized 
and  enforceable  legal  right. 

2.  It  should  regulate  the  method  by  which  meet- 
ings of  the  primary  should  be  called,  and  provide  for 
due  advertisement  of  time  and  place.  It  would  be 
in  the  interests  of  honest  methods  if  the  time  itself 
was  fixed  by  statute,  and  was  made  the  same  through- 
out the  State. 

3.  The  officers  of  the  primary  should  be  made 
public  officials,  charged  with  defined  functions,  and 
made  amenable  to  punishment  in  case  of  malfeasance. 

4.  Provision  should  be  made  for  the  organization 
of  new  parties,  whose  officials  should  be  liable  to  the 
same  penalties. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  details  of  such 
legislation;  but  the  citizen-king  who  desires  to  per- 
form his  duty  as  such  will  see  how  simple  are  the 
elements  of  such  legislation,  and  will  not  fail  to  give 
his  influence  in  favor  of  such  enactments.  Armed 
with  such  laws,  backed  by  a  healthy  public  opinion, 
political  jobbery  and  corruption  become  just  as  man- 
ageable offenses  as  highway  robber)^      The  question 


1 82  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

comes  home,  then,  to  every  one  of  our  twelve  mill- 
ions of  CO  ordinate  sovereigns,  Do  you  want  honest 
politics? 

This  question,  my  young  friend,  you  will  have  to 
answer  for  yourself.  It  is  the  general  belief  that  you 
do  not ;  and  on  this  opinion  of  your  patriotism, 
morality,  and  manhood, the  "boss"  and  the  poHtical 
manipulator  expressly  base  their  chances  of  future 
domination  and  control.  By  the  success  or  failure 
of  their  designs  the  world  will  learn  the  nature  of 
your  decision. 


XV. 
PARTY  FEALTY. 

A  WELL-KNOWN  politician,  who  is  courteously 
designated  "an  eminent  political  manager,"  though 
he  ought  more  properly  to  be  termed  a  notorious 
political  trickster,  whose  name  is  associated  with 
many  a  notable  "deal"  by  which  unexpected  mir- 
acles have  been  wrought  at  the  ballot-box — a  man 
who  regards  the  voter  as  a  subject  of  legitimate  mer- 
chandise, the  legislator  as  simply  an  instrument  on 
which  the  lobbyist  may  display  his  skill,  and  the 
party  as  a  mere  agency  by  which  this  sort  of  traffic 
may  be  more  easily  carried  on — such  a  man  said  to 
me  the  other  day,  alluding  to  the  letters  I  have 
addressed  to  you: 

"It  is  all  bosh !  When  a  man  goes  into  politics 
he  must  leave  his  religion  at  home!  A  politician's 
business  is  to  win,  and  if  he  stops  to  look  too  care- 
fully at  the  means  employed  he  never  will  win ; 
that  is  all  there  is  of  it.  Your  letters  will  have  just 
this  effect:  they  will  weaken  party  discipline,  promote 
strife  in  the  ranks,  and  complicate  party  organization. 
In  short,"  he  added,  with  a  tone  of  supreme  disgust, 

183 


1 84  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

"  they  will  encourage  bolts,  multiply  'independents,' 
and  swell  the  ranks  of  the  'mugwumps!'" 

You  may  well  imagine  that  my  blood  ran  cold  at 
this  terrible  arraignment.  My  friend — for  he  has 
proved  himself  my  friend  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion— is  a  man  whose  opinion  upon  any  political 
matter  is  not  lightly  to  be  called  in  question.  He 
has  devoted  the  major  part  of  a  life,  now  verging  to 
the  shady  slope,  in  winning  political  conflicts.  In 
detecting  the  plans  of  the  enemy,  and  in  "laying 
pipes"  to  forestall  them,  he  is  almost  unequaled  in  a 
State  notable  for  the  boldness  and  success  of  its  polit- 
ical buccaneers.  More  than  once  he  has  snatched 
victory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat  by  some  scheme,  fair 
or  questionable,  by  which  the  results  of  an  election 
have  been  determined.  Every  one  knows  that  he  is 
not  at  all  scrupulous  about  the  means  he  employs; 
in  fact,  he  does  not  claim  to  be.  If  he  has  ever  gone 
beyond  the  limits  of  legal  right  in  these  contests,  he 
has  never  been  detected;  or,  at  least,  the  fact  has 
never  been  ascertained  by  a  jury  charged  to  inquire 
into  such  violations,  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt.  *  In 
private  life  he  is  regarded  as  reputable  and  trust- 
worthy. He  is  a  man  of  ample  fortune,  of  which  he 
is  the  undoubted  architect,  though  his  professional 
income  has  never  been  enough  to  meet  his  apparent 
expenses.  He  does  not  deny  that  he  has  "taken 
advantage  of  his  opportunities,"  and  he  counts  every 
man  a  fool  who  does  not.      It  is  well  known  that  he 


PARTY  FEALTY.  185 

would  not  hesitate  to  buy  a  voter,  a  delegate,  or  a 
legislator,  if  he  could  not  get  him  otherwise.  It  is 
universally  believed  that  he  has  done  all  these  things 
over  and  over  again ;  yet  he  is  deemed  an  honorable 
man.  His  standing  in  the  Church  and  society  is  not 
at  all  affected  by  this  prevailing  belief.  He  is  merely 
a  successful  politician,  and  in  the  popular  eye  is  ex- 
:used  for  all  the  sins  which  he  may  have  deemed 
necessary  to  insure  success. 

This  man  intended  that  his  words  should  fall  upon 
me  with  crushing  effect.  There  is  none  who  under- 
stands quite  as  well  as  one  of  this  class  the  value  of 
contempt.  More  than  once  we  have  been  associated 
in  momentous  conflicts,  and  I  have  often  noted  his 
tact  and  subtlety  with  no  little  admiration.  No  one 
knows  better  than  he  the  power  of  skillfully  applied 
epithets,  and  he  no  doubt  supposed  my  heart  would 
quail  before  the  scornful  emphasis  he  threw  into  the 
terms  "independents"  and  "  mugwumps ;"  for  he 
knows  full  well  that  to  my  mind  the  one  is  the  un- 
failing symptom  of  "structural  weakness,"  and  the 
other  an  evidence  of  unconscious  arrogance.  He  "~ 
knows  that  I  believe  as  strongly  as  he,  that  party — 
party  organization,  party  discipline,  and  party  suc- 
cess— are  absolutely  essential  to  good  government 
and  healthy  progress  in  a  republic,  and  that,  as  a 
rule,  I  do  not  believe  any  more  than  he  in  the  right, 
duty,  or  manliness  of  alliance  with  an  enemy  because 

one  can  not  altogether  agree  with  the  course  adopted-^ 

16 


1 86  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

by  his  friends.  But  with  this  our  concord  ends. 
Thenceforth  we  differ  radically  as  to  every  phase  of 
party  relations. 

To  the  one,  a  party  is  a  means  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  worthy  ends.  When  it  fails  to  attempt 
that, it  is  worthy  neither  of  allegiance  nor  honor.  It 
is  fit  only  to  be  cast  aside  like  a  broken  tool.  To 
the  other,  party  is  merely  a  means  of  power.  Its 
policy,  methods,  and  the  character  of  the  men  whom 
it  intrusts  with  power — all  these  are  nothing  in  the 
game  of  politics  which  he  plays  with  the  votes,  the 
interests,  the  moral  sentiments,  and  the  dearest  rights 
of  the  masses,  as  the  pawns  by  which  the  more  im- 
portant pieces  on  the  board  are  to  be  supported  and 
advanced.  To  the  one,  party  is  an  instrument  of 
public  good — a  means  by  which  popular  opinion 
may  be  more  easily  and  certainly  expressed.  To 
the  other,  party  is  only  a  means  by  which  certain 
individuals  are  to  be  foisted  into  positions  of  power 
and  emolument  for  the  joint  personal  benefit  of 
themselves  and  their  most  active  supporters.  To 
the  one,  party  is  an  instrument  to  be  used  by  the 
people  for  the  good  of  the  people  ;  to  the  other,  an 
instrument  by  which  the  people  are  made  to  con- 
tribute to  the  personal  interests  of  a  few  active, 
zealous,  and  able  manipulators,  who  manage  the  game 
of  politics  for  the  careless  and  neglectful  masses. 
Standing  on  such  different  planes,  agreement  was 
impossible,  because  words  meant  different  things  to 


PARTY  FEAL TV:  I %>J 

each.  So  I  could  only  say  to  him  that  if  such  as  he 
had  not  left  their  scruples  at  home  when  they  went 
into  politics,  as  he  averred  that  all  men  must,  "  inde- 
pendents" would  be  rare  and  "mugwumps"  un- 
heard of.  Without  disregarding  the  opinions  of  such 
men,  without  being  deterred  by  their  assumed  con- 
tempt or  troubled  about  the  epithets  they  may 
bestow,  let  us  proceed,  my  young  friend,  to  examine 
the  much  mooted  question  of  party  allegiance  in  the 
light  of  what  has  already  been  ascertained  as  regards 
our  party  system  and  individual  obligation. 

And  first  let  me  assure  you  that  party  allegiance 
is  no  myth  ;  neither  is  it  merely  a  shrewd  device  of 
the  party  leader  intended  to  secure  the  fealty  of  luke- 
warm followers.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  very  worthy 
sentiment,  based  on  the  most  scrupulous  regard  for 
individual  conviction,  and  controlled  by  the  most 
delicate  sense  of  personal  honor.  As  we  have  seen, 
a  party  is  a  voluntary  association — an  equal  partner- 
ship of  individuals — banded  together  to  attain  a  com- 
mon political  end,  to  establish  certain  specific  prin- 
ciples, or  maintain  a  particular  form  or  method  of 
administration.  It  may  differ  from  another  in  gen- 
eral spirit  and  intent,  in  prevailing  tone  and  under- 
lying tendency,  or  only  in  matters  of  detail  and  in 
regard  to  specific  questions.  Such  is  the  nature  of 
humanity  that  there  must  always  be  at  least  two  great 
parties  in  a  republic  organized  as  ours  is,  with  a 
constitution  of  definite  and  restricted  powers.     The 


1 88    '  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

one  will  always  be  composed  of  strict  or  limited  con- 
structionists, while  the  other  will  be  composed  of 
broad  or  liberal  interpreters  of  the  constitutional 
limitations.  Underlying  all  other  distinctions,  these 
two  fundamental  ideas  will  ever  remain  in  our  gov- 
ernment, and  parties  will  divide  along  the  line  that 
separates  them  as  long  as  the  Constitution  remains  and 
the  nation  is  made  up  of  constituent  but  independent 
States. 

Of  course  the  germ  of  party  allegiance  lies  in  the 
duty  one  owes  to  himself  and  his  fellows  faithfully  to 
voice  his  own  convictions  as  to  public  policy,  and  do 
all  that  he  reasonably  may  to  secure  the  adoption 
and  maintenance  of  the  principles  he  believes  to  be 
essential  to  the  general  good.  As  it  is  the  bounden 
duty  of  the  citizen  to  affiliate  with  that  party  organ- 
ization which  in  spirit,  in  principles,  and  in  practice, 
most  nearly  approaches  his  own  personal  view  of 
what  constitutes  sound  policy,  so  it  is  likewise  his 
duty  actively  and  loyally  to  support  that  party  in 
the  promulgation  of  such  views  and  the  carrying  into 
effect  of  such  policy. 

Loyalty  to  party  rests  also  on  the  basis  of  personal 
honor.  A  party  being  an  equal  voluntary  associa- 
tion or  partnership  intended  to  effect  a  common 
purpose,  it  is  the  plain  duty  of  every  one  interested 
in  such  common  aim  to  support  and  maintain  the 
measures  that  may  be  decided  upon  by  a  majority 
of  the  members    as  likely  to  promote  the  common 


PARTY  FEAL TV.  1 89 

purpose,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so  tvithout  the 
sacrifice  of  convictions,  wJiicJi  he  deems  of  para^noiint 
importance  to  those  his  party  represents. 

This  obligation,  however,  is  subject  to  certain 
important  modifications.  The  relation  between  the 
individual  citizen  and  the  party  to  which  he  belongs, 
©ut  of  which  the  obligation  of  party  allegiance  arises, 
though  not  expressly  formulated  in  all  cases,  is  by 
necessary  implication  both  a  mutual  and  a  condi- 
tional one.  The  party  and  the  individual  are  both 
pledged  to  active  and  faithful  exertion  for  a  common 
end.  In  becoming  a  member  of  such  organization 
the  individual  tacitly  engages  to  forego  his  private 
judgment  as  to  the  best  method  of  effecting  the 
common  purpose,  and  accept  instead  the  decision 
of  the  majority,  in  order  that  unity  of  aim  and  har- 
mony of  method  may  unite  for  the  promotion  of  the 
common  design  ;  and  the  party  in  like  manner  con- 
tracts that  the  will  of  the  majority  shall  be  fairly 
ascertained.  This  reciprocal  obligation,  like  the  re- 
public itself,  is  based  on  the  presumption  that  the 
will  of  the  majority  represents  the  highest  good  of 
the  greatest  number;  that  the  common  purpose  is 
more  likely  to  be  obtained  by  submission  to  the 
general  will  than  by  stubborn  insistence  on  individual 
judgment  as  to  men  and  methods.  As  in  all  recip- 
rocal obligations,  however,  a  strict  performance  of  the 
duty  assumed  by  the  one  is  an  essential  prerequi- 
site to  any  claim  of  default  on  the  part  of  the  other. 


1 90  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

Pn  becoming  a  member  of  a  political  party,  a 
citizen  does  not  surrender  his  right  of  private  judg- 
ment, except  to  a  certain  degree  and  under  plain 
conditions.  To  claim  that  he  does  otherwise  is  to 
make  him  an  enforced  conspirator,  who,  by  reason 
of  the  relations  he  has  assumed  in  order  to  promote 
a  certain  end,  may  be  compelled  to  remain  an  un- 
willing instrument  of  the  overthrow  of  the  very  pur- 
pose he  sought  to  accomplish  thereby. 

The  reciprocal  obligation  from  which  the  bond  of 
party  allegiance  derives  its  force,  if  fairly  analyzed, 
will  be  found  to  be  a  contract  which  imposes  these 
conditions  on  the  respective  parties  thereto: 

1.  The  party,  collectively  considered,  tacitly  en- 
gages with  each  individual  that  the  will  of  a  majority 
of  its  members  upon  all  questions  affecting  the  com- 
mon purpose,  shall  be  fairly  taken  and  honestly  car- 
ried into  effect. 

2.  The  party,  in  like  manner,  engages  to  promote 
the  common  purpose  which  constitutes  the  moving 
cause  or  consideration  that  induced  the  individual  to 
give  it  his  support,  and  not  give  preference  to  any 
other  aim  to  the  prejudice  of  this  dominant  design. 
A  change  of  purpose,  therefore,  without  his  express 
assent  thereto,  releases  the  citizen  from  any  implied 
claim  of  support. 

3.  The  party  also  tacitly  engages  that  the  meas- 
ures it  adopts  to  secure  success  shall  be  lawful  and 
proper  ones. 


PARTY  FEALTY.  I9I 

4.  It  is  also  implied  in  this  mutual  contract  that 
the  individuals  chosen  to  represent  the  party  as  can- 
didates shall  be  (i)  capable  of  filling  worthily  the  po- 
sitions for  which  they  are  named,  (2)  of  good  char- 
acter, and  (3)  loyal  to  the  principles  of  the  party. 

These  conditions  being  complied  with,  the  party 
has  a  right  to  require  of  every  individual  member 
that  his  personal  preference  be  subordinated,  and  the 
will  of  the  majority  be  heartily  accepted  and  loyally 
maintained. 

Upon  these  grounds  alone  can  the  claim  of  any 
thing  worthy  the  name  of  party  allegiance  be  main- 
tained without  debasement  of  the  voter's  manhood 
and  demoralization  of  the  public  conscience.  Un- 
lawful or  unfair  methods  of  organization  or  procedure, 
incapable  or  unworthy  nominees — either  of  these 
things  releases  the  individual  from  any  claim  based 
upon  his  previous  support  or  affiliation.  By  either 
of  these  acts  a  party  loses  the  right  to  demand  the 
support  of  its  followers,  and  of  those  professedly  fa- 
vorable to  its  organic  principles.  To  acknowledge 
any  party  allegiance  not  based  on  these  grounds  is 
to  give  up  the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  surren- 
der the  kingship  of  the  citizen  for  the  subserviency 
of  the  slave — to  bid  for  the  domination  of  the  "boss" 
and  invite  the  demoralization  of  corrupt  methods. 

It  is  just  here  that  we  encounter  the  fallacy  which 
underlies  the  most  specious  claim  of  the  professional 
party  manipulator.      "The  man  who  enters  a  party 


192  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

caucus  or  convention,"  he  says,  "engages  in  its  dis- 
cussions, and  seeks  to  influence  its  actions,  is  in 
honor  bound  by  its  decisions."  So  far  as  personal 
preferences  or  the  mere  comparative  merits  of  candi- 
dates are  concerned,  this  is  true.  If  the  methods 
are  fair,  so  as  to  make  the  decision  a  real  expression 
of  the  will  of  the  majority,  and  the  candidates  se- 
lected are  worthy  and  capable,  no  personal  preference 
for  another  aspirant,  no  conviction  of  his  superior  fit- 
ness, should  stand  in  the  way  of  a  hearty  support  of 
a  nominee  of  the  party  to  which  you  belong.  The 
party  has  fulfilled  its  obligations,  and  has  a  right  to 
require  you  in  all  honor  and  sincerity  to  indorse  and 
maintain  its  action.  Your  judgment  as  to  which  of 
two  aspirants  it  is  best  for  the  party  to  name  as  a 
candidate  out  of  several  of  admitted  worth  and  ability 
should  always  yield  to  the  voice  of  the  majority. 

A  chief  purpose  of  party  organization  is  to  take 
beforehand  the  judgment  of  a  majority  upon  such 
questions  of  policy.  No  man  can  have  any  nght  to 
an  office  or  a  nomination.  The  interest  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  advancement  of  the  common  purpose  of 
the  organization  should  always  control  the  action  of 
any  party  in  the  selection  of  candidates,  and  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  individual  to  bow  to  the  decision  of  the 
majority  upon  such  questions  when  fairly  made.  The 
fact  that  the  so-called  "claims"  of  a  favorite  have 
been  ignored,  can  never  give  an  honorable  man  rea- 
sonable excuse    for   withholding  the   support  tacitly 


PAR  T V  FEAL  TY.  1 93 

pledged  to  the  party's  nominee,  if  the  decision  is 
honestly  made,  and  the  nominee  a  man  of  fair  moral 
character  and  reasonable  capacity.  Thus  far  the  claim 
of  party  allegiance  may  fairly  extend.  Beyond  that 
li-mit  it  can  never  rightfully  go.  The  fact  that  a 
man  fights  within  a  party  against  improper  methods 
or  improper  men,  does  not  bind  him  in  reason  and 
honor  to  their  support,  even  though  a  majority  may 
decide  in  their  favor.  The  party,  by  its  own  action, 
has  released  him  from  obedience  to  its  behests.  It 
has  abrogated  one  of  the  fundamental  and  essential  con. 
ditions  on  which  his  allegiance  was  originally  based. 

Of  what  constitutes  improper  methods,  or  inca- 
pacity, or  unworthiness  on  the  part  of  a  candidate, 
every  man  must  of  necessity  be  his  own  judge.  He 
can  not,  as  a  good  citizen,  depute  another,  or  many 
others,  to  determine  these  questions  for  him.  Neither 
can  he  smother  his  own  convictions,  or  act  contrary 
to  them,  and  be  held  blameless  of  resulting  evil.  The 
king  must  judge;  the  king  must  rule;  and  the  king 
must  bear  the  blame  of  his  own  weakness  and  error, 
as  well  as  expect  commendation  for  his  justice  and 
wisdom. 

That  this  is  not  the  ordinary  view  of  the  relations 
of  the  individual  to  the  party  is  freely  admitted.  It 
is  the  only  one,  however,  consistent  with  the  honor, 
intelligence,  and  integrity  of  the  citizen-king.  It  is 
the  only  theory  of  party  allegiance  consistent  with 
either  morality  or  patriotism,  and  when  the  Christian 

17 


194  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 


citizen  ceases  to  "leave  his  religion  at  home  when  he 
goes  into  politics,"  it  will  be  accounted  neither 
strained  nor  unusual.  To  say  that  its  practical  adop- 
tion is  a  matter  of  difficulty  is  merely  to  assert  that 
the  performance  of  duty  is  not  always  easy.  That 
such  freedom  of  individual  action  is  entirely  consist- 
ent with  party  loyalty,  we  shall  see  hereafter. 


XVI. 

THE  "INDEPENDENT  VOTER." 

The  one  hundred  and  eleventh  anniversary  of  our 
national  birth  has  occurred  since  I  last  addressed  you. 
This  fact  of  itself  makes  it  peculiarly  fitting  that  the 
subject  of  independent  political  action  should  occupy 
our  attention  at  this  time.  Government,  as  the  act 
and  duty  of  the  many  rather  than  the  privilege  of 
the  few,  is  so  new  a  thing  in  the  world's  history  that 
no  incident  connected  with  its  development  can 
properly  be  passed  over  without  notice.  Our  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  to  which  I  hope  you  listened 
reverently  on  the  anniversary  of  its  promulgation,  is 
remarkable,  not  so  much  for  the  nationality  of  which 
it  was  the  index  and  precursor,  as  for  the  epoch  of 
individualism  which  it  inaugurated.  It  is  the  gospel 
of  equality  of  right,  founded  on  that  other  gospel  in 
whose  ideal  the  great  apostle  tells  us  "  there  is  neither 
barbarian,  Scythian,  bond,  nor  free." 

Self-government,  which  was  then  an  experiment, 
has  been  growing  constantly  in  the  direction  of 
greater  independence  of  individual  action.  Then  a 
few  leaders  shaped  and  controlled  all  political  action. 

195 


196  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

They  were  independent  of  each  other,  it  is  true,  but 
their  adherents  followed  their  individual  lead  with  al- 
most servile  faithfulness.  What  were  termed  parties 
were  little  more  than  factions — mere  personal  follow- 
ings.  Men  were  for  or  against  a  particular  man,  or  a 
particular  idea  which  some  man  or  set  of  men  had 
enunciated.  Now  the  people  make  the  platforms  and 
name  the  leaders.  Our  history  shows  that  a  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  self-government,  has 
been  especially  favorable  to  independence  of  thought 
and  freedom  of  political  action.  Under  the  early  sys- 
tem the  individual  was  compelled  to  elect  between  op- 
posing factions.  Rival  chiefs  drummed  the  country 
for  recruits. 

Under  the  banner  of  some  one  of  these  the 
patriot  was  required  to  serve,  or  become  himself  a 
leader  and  undertake  the  task  of  overthrowing  all 
competitors,  in  order  to  attain  a  desired  result. 
Under  the  party  system  the  individual  is  not  only 
enabled,  but  is  constantly  invited,  to  impress  his 
thought  upon  the  policy  of  the  party  to  which  he 
belongs.  An  idea  that  promises  success  is  always 
welcomed.  It  may  be  difficult  to  demonstrate  its 
importance  and  effectiveness  or  availability;  but  as 
soon  as  they  are  clearly  shown,  the  new  thought 
has  at  once  the  aid  of  all  the  established  agencies  of 
party  organization  to  promote  its  triumph.  To  the 
political  thinker,  the  advocate  of  new  ideas  and 
champion    of   untried    measures,   this    system    offers 


THE  ^'INDEPENDENT  VOTER:'  1 9/ 

opportunities  which  he  would  rarely  be  able  to  create 
for  himself. 

The  result  is  that  political  recreancy  is  becoming 
a  familiar  thing.     A  few  years  ago  it  was  a  serious 
matter  for  a  public  man  to   disagree  with  his  party 
upon  any   question    of   policy.      Few  dared    to  defy 
the  power  of  those  tyrannic  organizations  which  the 
half-developed   party  system   permitted   and  encour- 
aged.     For  more  than  a  decade  Jackson  wielded  as 
absolute  and  despotic   power  within   the  Democratic 
party  as  a  sultan  exercises  in  his  harem.     To  doubt 
was  death.     He  was  the  last  and  greatest  of  our  poHt- 
ical  despots.     Greater  men  than  he  have  often  tried 
to  enact  the   role   of  party  dictator  since  that  time, 
but  none  have  so  successfully  wielded  the  scepter  of 
absolute   authority,  because  the  enginery  which  the 
party  leader  then  controlled   has  since  become  avail- 
able to  all.     The  man   who  attempts  to   control   its 
action  now  is  morally  sure  of  being  "hoist  with  his 
own  petard."     Such   is   the  fate   that  has  overtaken 
every  imitator  of  "Old  Hickory"  who  has  forgotten 
that  the  conditions  of  successful  leadership  have  rad- 
ically changed   since  his  day.     The  question   is  not 
now  who  can  most  effectually  coerce  popular  endur- 
ance and   approval,   but  who  can  most  readily  note 
the  trend  of   public    sentiment,   and  most    certainly 
foretell  the  course  it  is  likely  to  assume. 

When  Buchanan,  in  1858,  told  Stephen  A.  Doug- 
las that  "no  Democrat  had  differed  from  an  adminis- 


1^8  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

tration  of  his  own  choice  without  being  crushed,"  the 
"Little  Giant"  was  only  half  right  in  his  sneering 
reply:  "I  wish  you  to  remember,  Mr.  President, 
that  General  Jackson  is  dead!"  His  great  rival,  the 
shadow  of  whose  destiny  already  overhung  his  fame, 
understood  much  better  the  tendency  of  his  time 
when  he  laid  the  foundations  of  his  own  success  broad 
and  deep  in  the  convictions  of  the  people.  He 
realized  the  fact  to  which  all  his  contemporaries 
were  blind,  and  which  to-day  so  many  are  trying  to 
ignore,  that  the  recently  perfected  enginery  of  our 
party  system  had  taken  the  ultimate  power  from  the 
leader  and  the  caucus  and  placed  it  in  the  hands  of 
the  rank  and  file.  Thenceforward  he  perceived  that 
the  popular  chief  would  not  be  the  man  who  could 
most  successfully  rule,  but  he  who  should  most  faith- 
fully serve. 

"Do  not  do  it,"  said  the  venerable  Thad  Stevens, 
in  his  last  days,  to  an  enthusiastic  young  man  who 
talked  of  rebelling  against  his  party's  behest.  "No 
man  can  afford  to  put  himself  outside  the  pale  of  the 
party  with  which  he  is  in  substantial  accord  on  most 
questions,  because  of  difference  with  it  in  one." 

"Yet  you  once  did  it,"  was  the  reply. 

"Yes — once;  and  it  took  me  ten  years  to  regain 
the  position  I  lost  thereby,  and  the  power  to  be  use- 
ful to  the  country  which  it  gave." 

"But  that  was  forty  years  ago,"  persisted  the  re- 
bellious spirit. 


THE  ^'INDEPENDENT  VOTERS  1 99 

"So  it  was — so  it  was,"  assented  the  veteran  pol- 
itician, thoughtfully;  "and  the  conditions  of  party 
service  have  materially  changed  since  then.  The 
force  which  moves  a  party  now  is  centripetal;  then 
it  was  centrifugal.  Then  a  party  was  judged  by  its 
leaders;  now  the  leaders  are  to  be  judged  by  the 
party.  The  politician  of  to-day  is  an  exponent  rather 
than  a  force.  He  is  an  exact  reflex  of  the  morality 
and  patriotism  of  those  he  represents." 

It  was  a  bold  and  notable  statement,  which  no 
man  could  better  afford  to  make,  and  to  which  no 
name  could  give  greater  weight.  The  system  of 
party  politics  has  magnified  the  rank  and  file — the 
individual — and  relatively  reduced  in  the  same  pro- 
portion the  leader's  consequence. 

The  general  observance  of  the  national  birthday 
this  year,  being  as  it  is  in  striking  contrast  in  this 
respect  with  the  years  that  have  recently  elapsed, 
shows  that  a  new  epoch  of  national  sentiment  is  at 
hand.  The  sons  of  those  who  saved  the  nation  from 
dissolution  are  awakening  to  the  fact  that  all  that 
is  to  be  achieved  by  the  Republic — her  ultimate  des- 
tiny— was  not  accomplished  when  the  national  domain 
was  preserved  intact,  and  the  stain  of  slavery  wiped 
from  her  soil.  The  glory  of  the  past  has  ceased  to 
overpower  the  activities  of  the  present,  while  year  by 
year  its  achievements  shine  the  brighter  as  the  nation- 
ality it  redeemed  grows  more  and  more  distinctive  and 
pronounced    in    character.       Hitherto    our    political 


200  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

thouglit  has  been  chiefly  concerned  with  the  legal 
definition  of  the  rights  of  man  in  relation  to  the  sov- 
ereign power.  Hereafter  it  will,  for  a  season  at 
least,  be  largely  occupied  with  the  problems  arising 
out  of  the  relations  of  the  individual  to  the  mass — of 
the  unit  to  the  segregation  of  units  which  we  call  so- 
ciety. We  have  ceased  to  invite  the  world  to  unload 
its  failures,  its  poverty,  and  its  crime  upon  our  shores, 
and  have  begun  to  ask  ourselves  in  all  seriousness, 
even  upon  the  Fourth  of  July,  what  is  needful  to  be 
done  to  render  our  civilization  all  that  it  should  be — 
in  what  way  the  general  betterment  of  the  American 
citizen  may  be  best  accomplished.  The  question  is  a 
myriad-sided  one,  which  is  likely  to  develop  many 
new  and  startling  phases;  but  its  feet  are  at  the 
threshold,  and  because  of  this,  our  American  life  is 
waking  to  an  interest  in  political  questions  and  meth- 
ods altogether  unprecedented.  On  the  eve  of  such 
an  awakening  it  is  well  to  pause  and  consider  what 
the  true  theory  of  independent  political  action  is. 

In  order  that  we  may  make  no  mistake  through 
the  use  of  terms  that  mean  one  thing  to  one  mind  and 
quite  a  different  thing  to  another,  it  will  be  neces.sary 
to  define  the  phrase  "independent  political  action " 
with  some  care.  In  its  broadest  sense  it  means,  of 
course,  that  the  individual  acts  according  to  his  own 
inclination  in  political  affairs,  without  coercion  or 
compulsion  on  the  part  of  any  man  or  set  of  men. 
In  this  sense,  the  strongest  partisan  in  the  land  may 


THE  ^'INDEPENDENT  VOTER."  201 

well  claim  to  be  an  "independent  voter."  Indeed, 
he  unquestionably  is  such,  in  a  vast  majority  of  cases. 
He  does  the  very  thing  he  most  earnestly  wishes  to 
do.  He  is  entirely  free  from  any  conscious  bias  or 
unwelcome  restraint.  His  action  is  a  deliberate  exer- 
cise of  the  power  vested  in  him  as  a  part  of  the  mul- 
titudinous sovereignty.  He  is  independent,  although 
he  obeys  the  behest  of  a  party,  because  he  has  confi- 
dence in  the  collective  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  the 
organization  to  which  he  belongs.  To  speak  of  one 
who  thus  freely  exercises  his  own  volition  as  any 
thing  else  than  an  "independent  voter"  is  thoroughly 
absurd;  yet,  as  the  phrase  has  come  to  be  used  in 
our  politics,  this  class  of  active,  earnest  political 
thinkers  and  workers  is  excluded,  and  those  only  de- 
nominated "independents"  who,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  ignore  the  duty  of  the  partisan,  and  content 
themselves  with  drifting  back  and  forth  in  the  eddies 
of  the  great  political  current. 

The  form  of  political  action  which  is  ordinarily 
intended  by  the  term  "independent,"  is  that  of  the 
man  who  recognizes  no  political  affiliation  or  party 
obligation  whatever ;  who  votes  first  with  this  party, 
and  then  with  that,  as  the  whim  of  the  moment  may 
incline.  This  class  is  the  great  uncertain  element  in 
politics.  In  all  its  forms  it  is  purchasable,  and  always 
in  the  market — waiting  to  be  bid  for.  It  is  usually 
known  as  the  "floating  vote" — an  unstable  element, 
the  support   of  which  is  to  be  secured  by  one  party 


202  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

or  another,  either  through  favor  or  subserviency. 
Sometimes  a  mere  notion,  sometimes  a  preference  for 
a  particular  candidate,  sometimes  an  indefinite  yearn- 
ing wiiich  is  mistaken  for  patriotism,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  the  most  base  and  mercenary  motives,  con- 
trol the  movements  of  the  shifting  tide  of  so-called 
"independent  voters." 

It  is  customary  for  self  styled  "independents" 
to  arrogate  to  themselves  and  others  unaffiliated  with 
any  party,  and  consequently  ready  to  coquette  with  all, 
a  virtue  not  to  be  found  in  the  simple  citizen  who  seeks 
to  do  his  duty  as  a  sovereign  by  faithfully  performing 
his  duty  as  a  partisan.  As  a  whole,  however,  they  are 
distinguished  neither  for  courage,  sincerity,  devotion 
to  principle,  fidelity  to  pledges,  nor  worthy  achieve- 
ment of  any  sort.  Malcontents,  intractables,  weak 
and  vacillating  natures,  form  a  large  portion  of  this 
class.  They  are  most  frequently  useful  as  a  spur  to 
partisan  activity.  Of  themselves  they  accomphsh 
nothing  and  mean  nothing,  save  as  the  dust  of  the 
balance  which  barely  inclines  the  wavering  scale  this 
way  or  that  when  it  is  trembling  on  the  poise.  They 
represent  collectively  the  element  of  luck  in  the  game 
of  politics. 

Do  not  be  deceived,  my  young  friend,  by  any 
clamorous  pretense  of  fairness  and  virtue  which  may 
be  made  for  this  state  of  political  incertitude.  It  is 
merely  the  coward's  plea  to  escape  the  responsibility 
a  man  is   always   willing   to   share.      The  man  who 


**THE  INDEPENDENT  VOTER."  203 

has  not  positiveiiess  of  character  enough  to  have 
party  affiliations,  strong  and  earnest — who  is  half  the 
time  on  one  side  of  the  political  fence  and  half  on  the 
otlier — may  be  a  good  enough  man  in  some  respects, 
and  may  think  himself  the  very  climax  of  perfection 
in  all,  but  he  will  never  be  of  much  value  to  the 
Republic,  and  is  likely  to  do  it  positive  injury.  Even 
the  good  he  does  will  be  so  nearly  a  matter  of  chance 
that  he  will  deserve  little  credit  for  it.  It  is  better  to 
be  wrong  with  earnest  men  who  do  not  shrink  from 
the  dust  and  heat  of  conflict,  than  be  right  with  such 
happy-go-lucky  weaklings,  whose  ideal  of  supreme 
Avisdom  is  an  inexhaustible  capacity  for  finding  fault. 
But,  you  will  say,  Is  my  political  action  to  be  always 
controlled  and  directed  by  the  will  of  my  fellows — the 
decision  of  my  party?  By  no  means.  There  is  a 
political  independence  not  of  the  tepid  sort  we  have 
been  considering,  but  having  its  basis  in  the  most 
positive  and  manly  conviction.  The  very  sense  of 
duty  to  the  country  which  requires  the  citizen-king 
to  use  his  influence  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  false 
doctrine,  the  indorsement  of  unwise  policy,  the  prac- 
tice of  dishonest  methods,  or  the  putting  forward  of 
unfit  candidates  by  his  party, — this  same  sense  of 
patriotic  duty  requires  him  to  oppose  more  or  less 
vigorously,  any  such  action  of  the  party  with  which  he 
is  otherwise  in  substantial  accord.  This  is  real  polit- 
ical independe)ice.  It  is  the  assertion  of  the  funda- 
mental truth  that  party  is  merely  an  agency  designed 


204  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

for  the  use  and  advantage  of  the  citizen,  and  that  the 
citizen  is  not  a  mere  appanage  of  the  party.  In  a 
sense,  the  political  axiom  that  "no  man  is  as  wise 
or  as  strong  as  the  party  to  which  he  belongs,"  is 
true ;  in  another  false.  But  it  is  never  true  when  the 
party  is  in  the  wrong  and  the  individual  in  the  right ; 
for  every  man's  right  is  worth  more  than  any  party's 
success. 

This  conflict  between  the  action  of  a  party  and 
the  individual  conscience  most  frequently  arises 
under  some  of  the  following  conditions:  (i)  When  a 
party  puts  forward  an  unfit  candidate,  or  (2)  a  de- 
serving candidate  is  nominated  by  improper  means. 
This  is  in  express  violation  of  the  contract  between 
the  citizen  and  the  party.  By  such  course  he  is  in 
honor  and  morals  released  from  all  obligation  to  sup- 
port its  candidates  or  defend  its  policy.  Of  course 
this  may  involve  the  defeat  of  the  party,  to  the  prin- 
ciples, policy,  and  traditions  of  which  he  may  be 
devotedly  attached  ;  but  if  he  has  done  his  duty  be- 
forehand, and  warned  his  associates  of  the  result  of 
their  conduct,  the  responsibility  will  not  rest  with 
him.  It  is  better  that  any  party  should  suffer  defeat 
than  that  any  man  should  smother  his  scruples  or 
drown  the  voice  of  his  conscience.  The  king  may 
delegate  his  power,  but  he  can  not  evade  responsi- 
bility; and  the  man  \\\\o  supports  a  candidate  he 
believes  to  have  been  nominated  by  fraud,  or  whom 
he  deems  morally  or  intellectually  unfit  for  the  place 


THE  ''INDEPENDENT   VOTERS  205 

for  which  he  is  named,  commits  a  crime  against  the 
sovereignty  of  which  he  is  a  part,  which  is  infinitely 
more  injurious  to  the  nation  than  the  defeat  of  his 
party  can  possibly  be. 

This  is  genuine  political  independence ;  not  the 
weak,  unmanly,  sniveling  thing  that  passes  by  that 
name.  It  is  entirely  consistent  with  the  duty  of  the 
citizen  and  a  proper  allegiance  to  party.  It  may  not 
always  be  a  pleasant  task  to  assert  such  independence; 
but  if  it  were  the  rule  of  personal  conduct  and  not 
the  exception,  there  would  be  little  need  for  its  exer- 
cise. The  lesson  that  is  taught  by  this  branch  of 
our  subject  is  tiie  same  to  which  every  other  phase 
has  steadily  pointed — the  absolute  necessity  that 
every  man  should  do  his  duty  as  a  partisan  in  order 
that  his  duty  as  a  citizen  may  be  the  more  easily 
and  certainly  performed.  In  a  republic  all  ethical 
disquisition  but  emphasizes  the  injunction  to  indi- 
vidual duty  on  the  part  of  the  citizen,  just  as  in  a 
monarchy  policy  and  philosophy  enjoin  virtue  and 
assiduity  upon  the  ruler. 

The  right  and  duty  of  the  citizen  to  protest  against 
unwise  or  improper  action  of  his  party  does  not  admit 
of  question,  and  can  not  be  met  by  any  argument 
worthy  of  the  consideration  of  an  honest  man  or  con- 
scientious citizen.  Only  the  code  of  honor  which 
prevails  among  thieves  makes  it  the  duty  of  a  man 
to  defend  what  he  believes  to  be  wrong  because  it  is 
done  by  those  to  whom  he  is  bound  by  the  tie  of  a 


206  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

common  purpose.  Honor  hinds  no  one  to  uphold  dis- 
honor. This  is  the  prime  distinction  between  lawful 
and  commendable  association  and  unlawful  conspir- 
acy. How  this  protest  shall  be  made,  and  to  what 
limit  dissent  from  your  party's  action  shall  be  carried, 
you  will  find  among  the  most  difficult  questions  you 
will  be  called  upon,  as  a  citizen  and  a  patriot,  to  de- 
cide. Whether  you  shall  merely  protest  against  a 
specific  action  of  your  party,  withhold  your  support 
entirely  from  it  because  of  the  one  fault,  engage  in 
organizing  a  specific  opposition,  or  join  with  its  tradi- 
tional opponents  to  compass  its  defeat, — these  are 
questions  depending  in  a  great  degree  upon  the  cir- 
cumstances of  each  particular  case,  yet  affected  by 
certain  fundamental  principles,  which  will  be  the  sub- 
ject of  further  consideration. 


XVII. 
THE  PERILS  OF  REVOLT. 

Twenty-three  years  ago  an  army  lay  encamped 
among  the  hills  of  Northern  Georgia.  A  year  before, 
it  had  seized  the  gateway  of  the  Confederacy,  and  now 
the  Queen  City  of  the  South  was  in  its  hands.  It 
only  waited  for  another  conflict  to  be  decided,  to  start 
upon  that  "march  to  the  sea"  which  was  to  result 
in  finally  bringing  the  combined  power  of  the  nation 
to  bear  upon  the  forces  of  the  Rebellion,  who  had 
thus  far  been  indebted  for  escape  from  overthrow,  not 
less  to  the  mountains  in  their  rear  than  to  their  own 
splendid  courage  and  amazing  fortitude.  All  through 
the  sultry  summer  months,  while  Sherman  had  fought 
his  way  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta,  and  Grant  had 
held  the  wily  commander  of  the  Army  of  Virginia 
within  his  works  in  front  of  Petersburg,  awaiting  the 
blow  he  was  powerless  to  avert,  and  probably  did  not 
fully  foresee,  a  conflict  not  less  important  to  the 
destiny  of  the  Republic  had  been  going  on  in  the  cities 
and  towns,  the  fields  and  factories  of  the  North. 

The  question  to  be  decided  by  that  conflict  em- 
braced all  that  was  at  issue  between  the  contending 

207 


208  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

forces.  Whether  there  should  be  peace  or  war,  one 
country  or  two,  slavery  or  freedom, — all  these  things 
were  to  be  determined  by  the  tenor  of  a  people's  in- 
structions to  their  executive  head,  as  gathered  from 
the  ballot-boxes  on  the  Ides  of  November,  then  near  at 
hand.  These  questions  were  all  embraced  in  the  one 
simple  inquiry,  which,  thanks  to  our  intelligible  and 
effective  American  party  system,  every  voter  was 
called  upon  to  answer  by  his  ballot — whether  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  the  party  under  whose  auspices  the  war 
had  thus  far  been  carried  on,  should  be  re-elected,  or 
the  administration  of  the  government  be  intrusted  to 
the  weakness  and  indecision  of  that  young  soldier 
whose  inability  to  forget  himself  had  already  prevented 
him  from  writing  his  name  in  the  highest  place  upon 
the  roll  of  fame,  backed  by  a  party  whose  battle-cry 
declared  that  the  war  was  already  a  failure.  It  was 
an  anxious  moment.  The  Confederates  consoled 
themselves  for  the  misfortunes  of  the  battle-field  by 
predicting  the  success  of  their  allies  at  the  polls.  They 
recognized  the  fact  that  the  election  of  General  McClel- 
lan  as  President  was  worth  more  to  them  than  the  defeat 
of  General  Sherman.  Just  as  great  interests  are  no 
doubt  really  at  stake  in  every  Presidential  contest, 
but  they  are  rarely  so  sharply  defined  and  clearly 
perceptible  to  all. 

The  anxiety  which  was  felt  by  those  who  were 
in  the  army  was  much  greater  than  that  of  those  at 
home.    The  soldiers  saw  and  felt  the  importance  of  the 


THE  PERILS  OF  REVOLT.  20g 

decision  which  was  to  be  made,  and  naturally  feared 
that  the  absence  of  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
voters  who  had  volunteered  to  fight  the  country's 
battles  might  be  a  greater  drain  upon  the  patriotism 
of  the  North  than  it  would  be  able  to  bear.  It  is  true 
that  provision  was  made  by  most  of  the  States  for 
holding  an  election  in  the  army,  but  it  was  appre- 
hended that  many  would  be  unable  to  comply  with 
the  requirements  of  the  acts  passed  for  the  occasion, 
and  they  knew  that  hopelessness  and  discontent  pre- 
vailed to  a  greater  or  less  extent  throughout  the 
North.  This  was  the  subject  of  conversation  be- 
tween two  officers,  whose  quarters  overlooked  the 
captured  city. 

One  of  them  was  a  grave,  earnest  man,  who  did 
not  need  the  emblems  of  authority  to  mark  the  habit 
and  the  right  to  command.  The  other,  younger  and 
slighter,  was  yet  a  bronzed  veteran,  and  his  flashing 
eye  and  quivering  nostril  showed  the  intensity  of  his 
feelings. 

"So  you  wish  to  be  assigned  to  out  post  duty  on 
election-day  instead  of  acting  as  a  commissioner  to 
hold  the  election  for  the  troops  from  your  State  ?" 
said  the  superior,  evidently  in  response  to  a  request 
of  the  subordinate. 

"Yes,  sir,"  was  the  reply, 

"May  I  ask  why  you  wish   to  avoid  this  duty, 

Colonel?"  asked  the  other,  gravely. 

The  younger  man  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then 

i8 


2IO  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

said  :  "The  fact  is,  General,  I  do  not  wish  to  vote,  and 
would  like  to  take  some  one's  place  who  is  not  scru- 
pulous about  such  things." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  not  being  scrupulous?" 

"Well,"  said  the  younger,  with  some  signs  of 
confusion,  "I  have  adopted  it  as  an  inflexible  rule, 
that  I  will  never  vote  for  a  man  for  any  position  whom 
I  have  reason  to  believe  to  be  addicted  to  the  excess- 
ive use  of  spirituous  liquors." 

"And  in  this  case?"  asked  the  other,  inquiringly, 

"I  spent  the  winter  of  1862-3  in  Nashville,  you 
know,  and  saw  the  candidate  for  Vice-President  on 
the  Republican  ticket  very  often." 

"Yes,"  said  the  elder  man  thoughtfully;  "and 
because  Mr.  Johnson  is  sometimes  intoxicated,  you 
will  not  vote  for  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  prosecution  of 
the  war.  I  am  not  much  of  a  politician,  as  you  know, 
but  this  seems  to  me  a  curious  sort  of  reasoning." 

"  Perhaps  it  may  be,"  said  the  younger  man,  and 
his  lips  shut  close  as  he  spoke,  "but  I  am  not  going 
to  be  a  party,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  making  a 
drunken  man  a  possible  President." 

"  I  do  not  like  that  idea  any  more  than  you  do," 
responded  the  other,  "but  I  can  not  help  looking  at 
the  alternative.  If  I  do  not  vote  for  Abraham 
Lincoln,  I  give  at  least  half  a  vote  for  George  B. 
McClcllan.  Now  I  think  that  the  most  important 
question  ever  asked  of  an  American  citizen  is,  '  Shall 
this  war  continue  ?'     I  believe  the  only  way  to  insure 


THE  PERILS  OF  RE  VOL  T.  211 

its  continuance  and  success  is  to  vote  for  Mr.  Lincoln, 
and  the  best  way  to  secure  its  failure  is  to  vote  for 
General  McClellan.  I  have  the  same  objection  to  the 
nominee  for  Vice-President  that  you  urge,  and  I  am 
very  sorry  the  nomination  was  made;  but,  being 
made,  I  do  not  see  how  I  can  better  serve  the  country 
than  by  accepting  it." 

"  If  a  party  wants  my  support,"  interjected  the 
younger  man  hotly,  "it  must  nominate  men  whose 
moral  tone  and  character  I  can  approve — men,  in 
short,  whom  I  can  trust." 

"That  is  no  doubt  the  duty  of  a  party,  but  will 
a  failure  of  duty  on  its  part  also  excuse  a  like  failure 
on  the  part  of  the  voter?  This  is  not  a  question 
between  you  and  your  party,  but  between  you  and 
your  country.  You  and  I  had  a  right  to  have  pre- 
vented the  nomination.  It  was  perhaps  our  duty  to 
have  done  so.  I  said  nothing — probably  you  did  not. 
In  that  we,  no  doubt,  failed  of  doing  our  duty.  The 
nomination  having  been  made,  the  question  is  not  what 
ought  to  have  been  done  at  the  convention,  but  what 
ought  to  be  done  at  the  ballot-box.  You  would  not 
think  of  voting  for  the  other  candidate,  I  suppose?" 

"No,  indeed,"  said  the  younger  man  with  em- 
phasis. 

"You  believe,  no  doubt,  that  General  McClellan's 
success  would  be  detrimental  to  the  country." 

"Not  merely  to  the  country,"  was  the  reply, 
"but  to  the  world." 


212  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

"If  that  is  your  opinion,  can  you  afford  to  neglect 
any  thing  you  can  honestly  and  lawfully  do  to  prevent 
such  a  result?" 

"That  is  a  hard  way  to  put  it,  General,"  said  the 
subordinate  with  a  shrug;  "but  it  is  only  one  vote, 
which  is  not  likely  to  make  any  difference  with  the 
result,  and  I  would  like  to  tell  my  children,  if  I  ever 
have  any,  that  I  never  helped  to  elevate  a  drunkard 
to  office." 

"I  am  only  a  soldier,  as  you  know,"  said  the 
elder  man  gravely,  "and  have  never  been  accused 
of  what  is  termed  'meddling  in  politics;'  but,  as  I 
understand  it,  the  country  gives  one  aliquot  part  of 
the  power  of  choosing  our  rulers  and  legislators — in 
other  words,  of  governing — to  every  citizen,  and 
requires  him  to  use  that  power,  not  for  his  own  grati- 
fication, for  any  man's  advantage,  or  any  party's 
success,  considered  as  an  end,  but  for  the  common 
good  of  the  whole  people  of  the  country,  according 
to  his  best  judgment.  While  it  may  be  a  bad  thing 
to  have  an  intemperate  nominee  for  Vice-President, 
which  is  the  better,  a  possibly  drunken  official,  or  the 
certain  failure  of  this  war?  The  fact  that  it  is  but 
one  vote  makes  no  difference  with  the  question  of 
duty.  I  have  heard  the  story  told  among  politicians 
of  the  one  vote  which  elected  a  governor,  a  member 
of  the  Legislature,  and  a  congressman  ;  I  have  heard 
how  the  Legislature,  at  that  session,  had  a  majority 
of  one  only  on  joint  ballot,  and  that  there  was  a  tie 


THE  PERILS  OF  REVOLT.  21 3 

in  the  House  of  Representatives  at  the  next  session 
of  Congress  ;  so  that  this  one  vote  also  chose  a  United 
States  senator,  and  at  least  prevented  the  election  of  a 
party  favorite  as  the  speaker  of  the  House.  That  was 
of  course  an  accident;  but  if  others  thought  as  little  of 
the  right  of  suffrage  as  )'ou  seem  to,  it  might  happen 
very  often.  To  my  mind,  sir,  it  is  an  act  of  cowardice 
to  refuse  to  exercise  the  discretion  vested  in  you  as  a 
citizen  for  the  public  good.  Because  you  can  not  do 
all  that  you  wish,  in  the  precise  way  that  you  prefer, 
you  have  no  right  to  refuse  to  do  all  the  good  you  can, 
in  any  way  that  is  open  to  you.  You  might  just  as 
reasonably  refuse  to  bring  your  command  into  action 
because  you  did  not  approve  the  plan  of  battle  adopted 
by  the  general  commanding.  After  the  battle  is  joined, 
there  is  no  chance  for  protest.  When  one  of  two 
things  is  certain  to  occur,  the  part  of  prudence  and 
discretion  always  is  to  make  sure  that  the  least  harm- 
ful happens.  I  shall  not  modify  the  order,  Colonel, 
because  I  will  not  be  a  party  to  any  avoidance  of  duty 
by  so  good  a  soldier.      Good-night." 

He  rose  and  gave  his  hand  to  the  younger  man, 
Avho  thought  very  seriously  of  what  he  had  heard 
from  the  wise  and  patriotic  leader,  whose  name  is 
among  the  brightest  of  our  hero-dead,  'as  he  rode  off 
in  the  twilight.  On  the  day  of  election  he  voted  for 
the  Republican  candidates.  Afterwards,  when  the 
assassin's  bullet  had  taken  from  us  all  but  the  fame 
of  the  greatest  of  Americans,  casting  the  burthen  of 


214  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

responsibility  on  the  Vice  President,  whereby  his 
worst  fears  were  reahzed,  he  told  me  of  this  conver- 
sation, and  added: 

' '  I  have  never  regretted  the  vote  I  gave,  because 
it  was  the  best  I  could  do  for  the  country  under  the 
circumstances  in  ivhicJi  I  ivas  placed. 

Your  father  was  a  conscientious  citizen,  as  well 
as  a  Christian  soldier,  my  young  friend,  and  the  rea- 
son he  gave  for  refusing  to  act  upon  one  of  his  most 
cherished  convictions  contains  the  true  philosophy  of 
all  political  action.  The  question  to  be  answered  by 
the  individual  is  always,  "What  is  the  best  that  I 
can  do  for  the  country,  urider  the  circumstances  in 
which  I  am  placed  V 

You  will  find  that  independent  political  action — 
that  is,  refusal  to  act  with  your  party — is  always  a 
matter  for  serious  consideration.  Your  conduct  can 
not  safely  be  determined  upon  beforehand,  but  must 
always  be  decided  according  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
occasion — the  circumstances  by  which  you  are  sur- 
rounded. 

Such  independent  political  action  may  be  classi- 
fied under  three  heads: 

I.  A  mere  refusal  to  support  the  candidates  of 
the  party  with  which  you  are  in  substantial  accord, 
because  of  the  unfitness  of  the  candidates  themselves 
or  improper  methods  used  in  their  selection. 

This  is  the  mildest  form  of  protest — the  simplest 
form  of  revolt.     It  has  one  advantage  over  the  others 


THE  PERILS  OF  REVOLT.  21$ 

which  we  shall  consider,  in  that  it  is  not  usually  held 
to  debar  the  individual  adopting  it  from  future  co- 
operation with  the  party.  This  is  of  material  conse- 
quence, since,  as  we  have  seen,  party  is  the  instru- 
mentality which  the  citizen  must  use  in  order  to 
impress  his  thought  or  conviction  upon  the  commu- 
nity, or,  in  other  words,  in  order  to  be  of  service 
to  the  country  as  a  factor  in  its  government.  Of 
course  a  partisan  loses  somewhat  of  influence  even 
by  non-conformity.  Activity  and  zeal  are  essential 
elements  of  success,  and  a  party  naturally  prefers  the 
man  who  is  always  zealous  in  its  behalf,  to  the  one 
who  chooses  to  exercise  his  right  of  non-compliance 
with  its  behests  when  its  action  does  not  in  all  re- 
spects meet  his  approval.  This  fact  should  restrain 
you  from  mere  factional  or  whimsical  revolt,  since 
every  prudent  patriot  should  always  carefully  con- 
serve his  influence,  in  order  that  be  may  accomplish 
the  greatest  possible  modicum  of  good.  In  testify- 
ing disapproval  in  this  manner,  you  in  effect  simply 
withdraw  one  vote  from  the  number  which  your 
party  normally  ought  to  poll,  and  the  extent  of  dis- 
satisfaction is  measured  by  the  number  of  votes  thus 
withdrawn.  This  form  of  protest  against  wrongful 
party  action  is  no  less  positive  and  decided  in  char- 
acter, though  less  obnoxious  to  those  with  whom 
you  are  forced  to  disagree,  than  the  methods  we 
have  yet  to  consider. 

2.   The  second  form  of  independent  political  action 


2l6  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

is  the  organization  of  a  specific  opposition — the 
establishment  of  another  party,  or  the  setting  up  of 
a  candidate  in  opposition  to  one  whose  nomination 
or   character   is   deemed  objectionable. 

This  course  becomes  an  unavoidable  one  to  the  con- 
scientious voter,  who  finds  himself  irreconcilably  at 
variance  with  his  party  upon  a  question  of  paramount 
importance.  In  that  case,  supposing  always  that  no 
organization  especially  advocating  his  views  exists,  it 
becomes  the  duty  of  the  voter  to  join  with  others 
in  organizing  a  new  party  whenever  there  is  a  reason- 
able hope  of  thereby  advancing  the  canse  he  has  at 
heart.  The  question  of  organizing  a  new  party  or 
remaining  with  the  old  one  is  always  one  of  policy 
only.  The  real  question  for  the  voter  to  decide  is 
still,  How  can  I  best  serve  the  country  ?  If  satisfied 
that  the  best  interests  of  the  country  demand  the 
adoption  of  a  specific  idea  as  the  basis  of  public 
policy,  the  question  becomes,  How  can  I  best  pro- 
mote the  general  adoption  of  this  idea?  Of  course 
this  line  of  action  presupposes  an  intense  conviction 
of  the  paramount  importance  of  the  specific  idea,  and 
a  clear  belief  that  its  adoption  can  best  be  promoted 
thereby. 

It  sometimes  becomes  desirable,  also,  to  organize 
a  specific  opposition  out  of  the  elements  of  the  party 
itself,  in  order  definitely  to  measure  the  extent  of 
the  dissatisfaction  with  the  course  adopted  by  a  ma- 
jority.    This  is  a  bold  and  manly  method  of  protest 


THE  PERILS  OF  REVOLT.  21/ 

against  improper  methods,  which,  in  most  cases, 
where  it  has  been  well-founded,  has  proved  success- 
ful. It  is  a  drastic  measure,  which  requires  courage 
and  vigor  on  the  part  of  its  promoters,  is  perilous  in 
the  extreme  to  the  party  standing  of  those  engaging 
in  it,  and,  in  case  of  failure,  usually  leaves  its  origi- 
nators stranded  high  and  dry,  without  prospect  or  in- 
fluence in  any  party.  If  successful,  it  brings  the 
party  up  to  the  ground  occupied  by  the  protesting 
party  or  faction.  Because  of  its  bold  and  defiant 
character,  this  form  of  protest  has  received  the  spe- 
cific name  of  "bolt."  It  is  a  two-edged  sword,  but 
one  which  a  brave  man  need  not  fear  to  take,  and  by 
which  it  is  no  dishonor  to  be  slain. 

3.  The  third  form  of  what  is  termed  "independ- 
ent "  political  action,  consists  in  going  over  to  the 
opposition  in  order  to  secure  the  defeat  of  the  party, 
with  which  the  voter  still  claims  to  be  in  substantial 
harmony  in  principle. 

In  England,  where  parties  are  of  a  more  personal 
nature  and  not  self-organizing  and  self-controlling, 
deliberative  as  well  as  administrative  in  character,  a 
frequent  change  from  one  extreme  of  political  asso- 
ciation to  another  is  far  more  frequent  than  with  us. 
It  is  there  looked  upon  as  hardly  reprehensible  ;  and 
a  leader  of  one  party  to  day  is  not  unfrequently  a 
leader  of  the  other  to  morrow.  In  our  country  this 
has  rarely  been  the  case.  The  actual  severance  of 
relations  with  one  of  the  great  established  represent- 

19 


2l8  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

atives  of  public  thought  and  active  alliance  with  its 
traditional  opponent  is  rarely  followed,  either  by 
leadership  in  the  latter  or  recognized  and  unimpugned 
restoration  to  the  former.  Of  course  this  does  not 
apply  to  the  formative  period  of  a  new  party,  and 
exceptional  epochs  like  that  of  the  War  of  Rebellion 
give  exceptional  results.  Outside  of  these  limits 
there  are  very  few  instances  in  our  political  history 
of  such  changes  unattended  with  loss  of  prestige  and 
influence. 

When  there  is  a  change  of  political  belief  on  the 
part  of  a  voter,  an  abandonment  of  accepted  doctrine 
by  the  party,  or  a  new  departure  by  the  traditional 
opponent,  practically  changing  their  relations,  such 
change  is  in  no  sense  reprehensible.  When,  however, 
the  established  relations  between  two  great  parties 
are  undisturbed,  while  the  traditional  characteristics 
and  tendencies  of  each  remain,  a  man  can  not  swing 
back  and  forth  between  them  without  incurring  the 
opprobrious  name  of  "turncoat."  Politics  is,  and 
ought  to  be,  a  matter  of  conviction,  and  a  man  who 
believes  in  the  principles  of  one  party — its  traditional 
polic)'  and  tendency  as  exemplified  in  its  history  and 
constitution — can  not  give  his  support  to  one  antip- 
odally  opposed  to  it  without  doing  violence  to  all 
accepted  notions  of  consistency.  A  man  rnay  change 
his  convictions  and  go  to  the  hostile  camp  with  the 
full  respect  of  his  former  associates,  but  he  can  not 
go    over   to   tlie   enemy  on    the   day  of   battle   and 


THE  PERILS  OF  REVOLT.  2lg 

expect  to  return  afterwards  and  be  recognized  and 
treated  as  a  friend.  The  American  intellect  is  not 
subtle  enough  to  recognize  the  "Democratic  voter 
with  Republican  principles,"  or  the  converse — if  such 
a  thing  should  ever  be  developed — as  a  consistent 
fact.  One  who  attempts  this  role  must  naturally  ex- 
pect to  lose  whatever  influence  he  has  acquired  with 
his  party  associates.  He  may  possibly  regain  it,  but 
the  struggle  will  be  a  long  one,  and  in  most  instances 
the  individual  who  attempts  it  becomes  a  mere  shut- 
tlecock, vibrating  between  the  two  extremes  of  polit- 
ical thought,  of  little  moment  or  significance  to  either, 
and  of  doubtful  value  to  the  country.  Of  course,  if 
a  man's  political  views  are  chameleonic  in  character, 
if  he  is  by  nature  a  mere  pohtical  "bummer,"  this 
is  a  matter  of  no  consequence.  If,  however,  he 
regards  the  exercise  of  the  power  vested  in  him  as  a 
citizen,  not  as  a  mere  personal  privilege,  but  a  duty 
of  the  highest  and  most  sacred  character,  it  behooves 
him  to  use  such  discretion  as  will  enable  him  to  re- 
tain the  confidence  of  his  associates,  in  order  that  his 
influence  for  good  in  the  councils  of  the  government 
may  not  be  needlessly  destroyed. 

In  considering  these  various  forms  of  independent 
political  activity,  my  young  friend,  you  will  perceive 
that,  while  the  ties  of  party  should  not,  and  never 
need,  restrict  the  conscientious  action  of  the  voter, 
yet  no  one  who  desires  to  do  his  whole  duty  as  a 
citizen-king  should  take  a  course  calculated  to  weaken 


220  LETTERS  TO  A  KING, 

or  destroy  his  own  influence  as  a  recognized  member 
of  an  established  party,  without  the  most  serious 
consideration,  and  under  the  unavoidable  compulsion 
of  an  honest  reply  to  this  inquiry:  "How  can  I 
best  serve  the  cause  of  good  government  under  the 
conditions  in   which  I  am  placed?" 

Of  course  there  must  be  martyrs,  political  and 
otherwise ;  but  the  demand  for  them  is  not  half  as 
great  as  some  chronic  malcontents  would  have  us 
believe ;  and  many  a  self-applauding  patriot,  who 
advertises  by  political  defection  for  an  immortalizing 
crown  of  thorns,  obtains  instead  only  the  shreds  and 
tatters  of  general  contempt,  or  a  self-conviction  of 
his  own  folly  that  afterwards  clings  and  stings  like 
the  shirt  of  Nessus.  When  all  is  said,  the  fact  remains, 
that  those  who  have  accomplished  most  for  the  country 
have  done  it  by  faithful,  patient,  earnest  service  in 
the  ranks  of  that  party  most  nearly  in  accord  with 
their  personal  convictions;  and  what  is  so  clearly 
true  of  our  past  is  most  likely  to  be  true  of  our 
future. 


XVIII. 
THE  TRUSTEE  OF  AUTHORITY. 

"The  position  of  a  delegate  to  a  party  conven- 
tion is  the  most  difficult  and  important  that  an 
American  citizen  can  hold,  and  no  honest  man  will 
undertake  to  discharge  its  duties  with  a  fettered 
discretion." 

These  words  fell  from  the  lips  of  a  venerable  man 
who  had  long  been  prominent  in  the  councils  of  his 
party  and  the  nation,  and  against  whose  patriotism 
and  integrity  no  word  of  detraction  had  ever  been 
uttered.  He  was  at  once  a  partisan  leader  and  a  pa- 
triotic citizen.  Living  in  a  period  of  the  fiercest  po- 
litical conflict,  a  man  of  the  most  pronounced  and 
unfaltering  convictions,  he  had  the  respect  even  of  his 
bitterest  opponents.  When  he  uttered  these  words  he 
had  just  been  selected  as  a  delegate  to  a  national  con- 
vention by  the  State  convention  of  his  party  to  whom 
they  were  addressed,  and  it  was  proposed  to  instruct 
these  delegates  to  support  a  certain  aspirant,  "first, 
last,  and  all  the  time."  This  the  veteran  politician  re- 
fused to  submit  to,  declaring  that  if  the  resolution 
was  adopted  he  would  decline  to  serve  as  a  delegate, 

221 


222  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

This  seemed  at  first  incomprehensible  to  many  of  his 
Hsteners,  all  the  more  so  as  the  candidate  named  was 
his  especial  choice — the  one  for  whom  he  had  been 
earnestly  at  work  from  the  very  opening  of  the  can- 
vass. He  proceeded,  however,  with  such  a  lucid 
explanation  of  the  responsibilities  and  duties  of  the 
delegate  that  the  resolution  was  withdrawn  and  the 
delegates  sent  unhampered  to  exercise  the  power  of 
the  constituent  body  in  the  supreme  council  of  the 
party.  His  words  made  such  an  impression  upon 
my  mind  that,  though  he  has  long  since  passed  from 
sight,  I  have  chosen  them  for  the  text  on  which  to 
base  some  reflections  upon  the  position  and  duties 
of  the  delegate. 

The  delegate  to  a  political  convention  is  a  trustee 
who  gives  no  bond  for  the  faithful  performance  of 
the  trust  imposed,  except  his  personal  honor.  Usu- 
ally he  is  chosen  to  express  the  preference  of  his 
associates,  who  thereby  become  his  constituents,  for 
some  particular  candidate.  His  preference  is  gener- 
ally well  known,  and  he  is  selected  because  of  it. 
Sometimes,  however,  it  is  deemed  advisable,  in  order 
to  secure  his  adhesion  to  the  favorite,  to  adopt  more 
or  less  vigorously  phrased  instructions  as  to  the  exer- 
cise of  the  power  vested  in  him.  The  relation  of  the 
delegate  to  the  body  he  represents,  and  the  obliga- 
tion created  by  the  instructions  given,  are  matters 
of  such  grave  import  as  to  demand  tiie  serious  atten- 


THE  TRUSTEE  OF  AUTHORITY.  223 

tion  of  every  citizen  who  would  faithfully  discharge 
his  political  duty. 

The  delegate  is  the  creature  of  one  deliberative 
assembly  and  a  member  of  another.  To  the  former 
he  owes  consideration  and  respect;  to  the  latter, 
allegiance  and  sincerity  of  purpose.  It  is  no  light 
thing  to  have  your  fellow-citizens  put  in  your  hands, 
without  any  guarantee  save  confidence  in  your  honor 
and  integrity,  their  collective  civic  power,  and  ask 
you  to  act  for  them  in  rendering  effective  their  polit- 
ical predilections.  If  it  were  a  trust  of  almost  any 
other  sort — if  it  affected  the  disbursement  or  control 
of  a  single  cent — the  law  would  take  notice  of  its 
existence  and  enforce  its  execution.  As,  however, 
it  concerns  only  human  rights,  the  law  is  silent  as  to 
its  scope,  and  appends  no  sanction  to  its  non-per- 
formance or  penalty  to  its  betrayal,  being  far  more 
anxious  about  purses  than  prerogatives.  Any  right- 
minded  man  will  see,  however,  that  the  principles  of 
equity  which  govern  the  administration  of  a  pecun- 
iary trust,  apply  in  morals  with  tenfold  stringency  to 
the  discharge  of  the  delegate's  duty. 

The  most  important  and  self-evident  of  these 
principles  is  that  the  trust  shall  be  diligently  and 
faithfully  performed,  according  to  the  sound  discre- 
tion of  the  trustee,  and  with  an  eye  single  to  the 
interests  of  the  cestui  que  trust.  It  is  not  to  be  exer- 
cised for  the  benefit  or  advantage  of  the  trustee,  nor 
neglected  to  enhance   a   stranger's   interest.      It  is  a 


224  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

debt  of  honor  laid  upon  one  clothed  with  the  confi- 
dence of  his  fellows.  By  their  selection  he  is  charged 
to  speak  for  them  as  to  the  interests  of  the  party, 
which,  to  their  apprehension,  means  also  the  interest 
of  the  country.  So  far  as  their  preferences  are 
known  he  is  bound  by  them  as  the  express  will  of 
his  trustor,  unless  he  finds  them  at  variance  with  his 
conviction  of  policy  and  duty  for  the  party  at  large. 
Not  unfrequently  it  becomes  a  most  troublesome 
question  to  determine  when  he  shall  act  according  to 
instructions,  and  when  upon  his  own  discretion. 

If  the  delegate  were  a  mere  agent  this  question 
would  be  easily  decided.  The  will  of  his  principal 
would  be  always  supreme.  The  trouble  is,  that  he  is 
vested  with  a  discretion  which  underlies  and  some- 
times overrides  even  explicit  instructions.  It  not  un- 
frequently happens  that  the  very  thing  he  is  directed 
to  do  becomes  futile  and  absurd.  By  a  strict  con- 
struction of  his  orders  he  is  forbidden  to  do  any  thing 
else.  But  he  owes  a  duty  to  the  country  and  the 
party  as  well  as  to  the  constituency  whose  power  he 
exercises.  These  obligations  he  must  reconcile  accord- 
ing to  the  circumstances  of  each  particular  case.  Hav- 
ing accepted  the  trust,  he  must  carry  out  the  wishes 
of  the  trustor,  unless  satisfied  that  the  interest  of  the 
beneficiary  is  likely  to  be  impaired  thereby.  He  is 
not  required  to  imperil  the  success  of  the  party  by 
stubborn  and  unreasonable  observance  of  the  instruc- 
tions of  a  section  of  it.     The  whole  is  more  important 


THE  TRUSTEE  OF  AUTHORITY.  225 

than  a  part,  and  the  welfare   of  the   whole    should 
properly  override  the  will  of  the  part. 

It  is  not  with  the  honest  and  capable  delegate, 
however,  that  the  trouble  usually  arises.  It  is  with 
the  weak,  infirm  of  purpose,  dull  of  intellect,  and 
corrupt  of  heart,  that  the  professional  manipulator 
works.  For  it  is  with  the  delegate  that  most  of  the 
so-called  "fine  work"  of  the  political  "striker"  is 
done.  The  first  effort  of  the  professional  politician,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  to  get  men  chosen  as  delegates  who 
are  pledged  to  do  the  work  required  of  them,  by 
controlling  the  action  of  the  primaries.  Should  this 
be  impossible,  the  next  move  is  to  secure  men  who 
will  be  likely  to  leave  the  matter  to  well-disposed 
alternates  or  proxies ;  and,  in  case  this  also  should 
fail,  to  secure  the  selection  of  delegates  who  are  sus- 
ceptible of  being  influenced,  either  by  flattery,  favor, 
or  direct  purchase.  Such  delegates  constitute  a  very 
considerable  proportion  of  almost  all  conventions, 
those  who  are  not  actually  purchasable  often  regard- 
ing their  trust  as  a  personal  or  factional  perquisite, 
rather  than  a  public  obligation,  and  seeking  it  rather 
to  gain  advantage  for  themselves  or  their  friends 
than  in  order  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  party  to 
which  they  belong,  or  the  constituency  by  which 
they  are  chosen. 

Because  of  this  fact,  the  delegate  feature  undoubt- 
edly constitutes  the  weakest  point  in  the  American 
party   system.     The   objection   to   it   is  of  the  same 


226  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

character  with  that  which  obtains  against  the  jury ; 
to  wit,  the  difficulty  of  making  proper  selections,  and 
of  impressing  upon  the  people  the  importance  and 
gravity  of  this  peculiar  civic  function.  English  criti- 
cism of  the  American  party  is  almost  always  directed 
to  this  element  as  one  of  very  objectionable  character, 
and  a  defect  which  it  seems  almost  impossible  to  rec- 
tify. A  recent  writer  points  out  very  forcibly  the  analo- 
gies between  the  delegated  organization  and  those 
peculiar  associations  which  became  such  potent  factors 
in  hastening  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  republic,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  strictures  are  in  a 
sense  just.  It  is  the  one  link  in  our  system  that 
seems  incapable  of  protection  by  legal  enactment. 
The  evils  of  the  primaries  are  in  the  main  curable  by 
statute,  and  it  is  possible  to  conceive  that  laws  pro- 
viding for  the  regulation  of  conventions  may  yet  be 
found  feasible  and  necessary,  but  the  only  possible- 
remedy  for  the  choice  of  improper  and  untrustworthy 
delegates  is  the  cultivation  of  a  sense  of  individual 
responsibility  and  general  diligence  in  the  discharge 
of  political  duty  by  the  masses  of  the  respective 
parties. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  the  extent  of  this  evil. 
Men  of  the  keenest  honor  in  other  respects  readily 
consent  to  become  the  recipients  of  doubtful  favors 
in  the  capacity  of  delegates.  Candidates,  or  their  or- 
ganized adherents,  pay  the  expenses  of  delegates  and 
provide   them    with    necessaries    and    luxuries    until 


THE  TRUSTEE  OF  ATUHORITY.  22/ 

political  conventions  have  come  to  be  looked  upon  as 
periods  of  almost   unlimited   indul<^ence  on  the  part 
of  delegates,    at   the    expense   of   aspirants    or   their 
friends.     As  a  rule,  perhaps,  sucli  'favors  do  not  con- 
sciously affect  the  action  of  the  recipients,  but  their  uni- 
versal acceptance  tends  to  inculcate  the  idea  that  the 
delegate  has  some  sort  of  right  to  mulct  the  aspirant 
and  make  the  test  of  fitness,  not  unfrequently,  not  the 
capacity   to   discharge   the    duties   of  the    position  to 
which  a  candidate  aspires,  but  his  ability  and  w  illing- 
ness  to  meet  the  pecuniary  demands  of  his  support- 
ers.    In  the  case  of  the  highest  offices  of  the  nation, 
this  has  rarely  constituted  an  ingredient  of  the  choice 
of  nominees.      Usually  the   candidates   for   President 
and    Vice-President    have    been     men    of    moderate 
means.     Since  Washington,  not  one  of  our  Presidents 
could  properly  be  called  a  wealthy  man  according  to 
the  standards  of  his  time.      With  two  exceptions,  no 
man  of  unusual  means,  so    far  as    I    can   recall,  has 
been  nominated  for  either  place.     In  one  case  it  was 
openly  charged,  and  almost  universally  believed,  that 
"the   bar'l" — a   term    that  will  long   be   associated 
with  his  memory — was  relied   upon    to  secure  both 
the  nomination  and  election  of  a  candidate.      In  some 
instances  the  ability  to  control   the  support  of  great 
corporations    and    immense    moneyed    combinations 
has  been  counted  as  an   element  in  favor  of  even  a 
Presidential  nominee. 

In  the  case  of  inferior  national  officials,  senators 


228  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

and  representatives  in  Congress,  and  the  higher  of- 
ficers of  the  various  States,  it  is  the  rule  rather  than 
the  exception,  that  the  aspirant  must  be  able  and 
willing  to  furnish  a  liberal  allowance  for  such  expend- 
itures. It  has  lately  been  publicly  asserted  that  no 
man  can  receive  a  nomination  for  any  important 
office  in  the  city  of  New  York  without  paying  a  sum 
which  would  constitute  a  fortune  to  most  of  his  con- 
stituents. The  result  of  this  system  is  that  the  Sen- 
ate of  the  United  States  is  probably  a  richer  body 
of  men  than  that  of  patrician  Rome.  It  is  not  sus- 
ceptible of  reasonable  claim  that  this  may  be  the  re- 
sult of  accident.  It  is  not  possible  that  the  two 
men  best  fitted  to  legislate  should,  in  almost  every 
State  of  the  North,  happen  to  be  among  the  wealth- 
iest of  her  citizens.  In  fact  the  presumption  is,  that 
a  man  who  has  devoted  his  energies  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a  great  estate  must  have  been  so  absorbed  in 
the  pursuit  of  wealth  as  to  unfit  him  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent for  the  deliberative  duties  and  representative 
functions  of  the  legislator.  So,  too,  with  the  guber- 
natorial office.  No  one  supposes  that  the  man  in 
any  party  best  fitted  for  the  place  is  always,  or  even 
generally,  a  man  of  great  wealth.  Yet  in  four  cases 
out  of  five  throughout  the  North  the  man  selected  as 
a  gubernatorial  candidate  is  pretty  sure  to  be  of 
large  fortune.  It  is  tacitly  conceded  that  he  must  be, 
and  openly  declared  that  it  is  very  desirable  that  he 
should  be. 


THE  TRUSTEE  OF  AUTHORITY. 


229 


At  the  South  this  evil  is  far  less  generally  preva- 
lent than  at  the  North.  It  is  greatly  to  the  credit 
of  that  section  that  it  still  sends  poor  men  to  our  na- 
tional legislature.  One  of  the  reasons  why  it  has 
always  exercised  a  predominating  influence  in  national 
affairs  is  that  its  people  have  preferred  that  their  serv- 
ants should  be  endowed  with  brains  rather  than  pos- 
sessed of  unlimited  bank  accounts.  Only  a  small 
proportion  of  its  present  representatives  can  be  ac- 
counted wealthy  men.  It  has  been  laughingly  said 
of  the  senators  from  one  of  these  States  that  nothing 
could  make  the  note  of  either  less  valuable,  unless  it 
were  the  indorsement  of  the  other.  Yet  both  have 
the  firmest  hold  upon  the  people  of  their  State,  and 
no  amount  of  wealth  would  be  of  any  considerable 
advantage  to  a  competitor  seeking  to  oust  either  from 
his  place. 

Throughout  the  North,  however,  the  ability  and 
the  inclination  to  purchase  favor,  directly  or  indirectly, 
by  the  use  of  money,  has  become  an  almost  universal 
element  in  the  choice  of  candidates.  Public  office, 
in  the  general  apprehension,  has  become  a  sort  of 
perquisite  of  wealth — a  luxury  in  which  the  rich  man 
indulges  as  naturally  and  properly,  it  would  almost 
seem,  as  he  does  in  a  yacht  or  a  racing-stable.  Of 
course,  there  are  exceptions,  but  they  prove  the  rule 
to  be  otherwise  by  their  rarity.  It  is  a  fact  beyond 
question  that  no  man  can  reasonably  look  forward  to 
a  successful  political  career  in  the  North  who  has  not 


230  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

at  the  outset  an  ample  fortune,  or  the  inclination  to 
acquire  it  by  questionable  methods  while  in  the 
public  service. 

One  of  the  most  specious  forms  of  this  evil  is 
denominated  "log-rolling,"  or  "trading,"  which  con- 
sists in  exchanging  votes  or  influence  in  a  nominating 
convention,  by  which  the  nomination  of  one  man  to 
a  certain  office  is  yielded,  in  order  to  secure  the 
nomination  of  another  man  to  another  office  or  at 
another  time.  This  species  of  bargaining  so  generally 
prevails  that  it  will  no  doubt  affect  you  with  some 
surprise  to  learn  that  it  is,  or  could  by  any  one  be, 
considered  at  all  reprehensible.  In  some  States  it  is 
even  customary  to  allow  a  candidate  for  a  specific 
office  to  name  the  delegates  from  his  township  or 
precinct  to  several  conventions — as  a  candidate  for  a 
county  office  is  allowed  to  name  delegates  to  a  dis- 
trict convention — in  order  to  facilitate  transactions 
of  this  character.  The  inevitable  result  is  to  encour- 
age the  belief  that  the  power  which  the  delegate 
exercises  is  a  legitimate  matter  of  bargain  and  sale — 
a  stock  in  trade,  which  he  is  expected  profitably  to 
invest  on  his  own  account  or  another's.  It  induces 
men  to  become  professional  candidates,  standing  dele- 
gates, and  political  brokers,  with  the  specific  purpose 
of  making  gain  thereby.  Men  are  encouraged  to 
secure  the  control  of  delegates  in  order  to  hold  the 
balance  of  power  so  as  to  command  a  price  for  their 
support. 


THE  TRUSTEE  OF  AUTHORITY.  23 1 

"The  delegates  from  Concord  are  alwaj's  pur- 
chasable," said  a  veteran  politician  recently,  looking 
over  the  list  of  members  of  a  convention.  "See 
Jones,"  he  continued,  mentioning  one  whose  name 
was  not  on  the  list  of  delegates;  "he  always  has  the 
delegation  from  that  town  in  his  pocket;  find  out 
what  he  wants,  and  if  we  can  not  get  along  without 
Concord,  we  shall  have  to  trade  with  him.  The  in- 
fernal scoundrel,"  he  continued  with  hot  indignation, 
"has  made  his  living  for  twenty  years  by  buying  and 
selling  votes  and  voters.  The  Republicans  of  his 
township,  and  very  frequently  of  the  whole  county, 
are  just  as  much  his  slaves  as  if  he  had  bought  them 
in  market  overt.  He  has  an  organized  clique  of 
strikers,  with  whom  he  divides  the  profits  of  his  ven- 
tures. Men  stand  in  awe  of  his  influence,  and  pay 
him  for  his  silence  as  well  as  for  his  support.  He 
levies  blackmail  upon  friends  and  foes  alike.  For 
years  there  has  not  been  a  man  elected  to  office  m  the 
county  who  has  not  paid  tribute  to  this  infamous  buc- 
caneer. There  was  Smith,  the  clerk,  who  paid  him  a 
regular  commission  on  all  the  receipts  of  his  office,  and 
settled  with  him  regularly  once  a  quarter.  There  was 
Haynes,  the  sheriff,  who  gave  him  the  appointment 
of  every  one  of  his  deputies  in  return  for  his  influence 
to  secure  the  nomination,  and  he  sold  the  appoint- 
ments at  from  one  to  three  thousand  dollars  apiece! 
Probably  he  divided  one-third  of  this  with  his  strikers 
and  pocketed  the  rest  himself!     The  people  of  the 


232  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

county  are  just  as  much  his  property  as  if  he  held 
bills  of  sale  for  their  bodies  and  souls.  He  Hterally 
sells  to  them  the  privilege  of  going  through  the  form 
of  an  election.  While  the  rest  of  us  were  fighting  to 
free  the  slave  he  was  forging  fetters  for  us ;  so  that  to 
this  day  there  is  not  a  free  man  in  the  county.  I 
have  fought  for  years  to  overthrow  his  power,  but 
there  is  no  use  in  kicking  so  long  as  the  people 
are  willing  to  be  bought  and  sold,  and  are  proud  of 
the  facilities  they  offer  for  such  transactions !" 

The  man  thus  referred  to  is  a  notorious  "  Boss," 
whose  unblushing  infamies  have  made  the  name  of 
the  county  in  which  he  lives  synonymous  with  polit- 
ical corruption  and  ballotorial  debasement  throughout 
the  whole  country.  For  such  evil  there  is  absolutely 
no  remedy  but  active,  unremitting  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  individual  voter,  until  a  public  sentiment  shall 
be  created  that  will  esteem  the  barter  of  delegated 
power  just  as  reprehensible  as  the  breach  of  a  pecun- 
iary trust — until  the  citizen  king  realizes  that  the 
right  to  rule  is  even  more  sacred  than  the  right  to 
possess. 


XTX 
THE  CAPTIVE  KING. 

The  declaration  that  the  voters  of  the  country  are 
the  slaves  of  "bosses"  and  "rings"  is  so  often  made 
with  little  comprehension  of  the  grounds  on  which 
it  rests,  and  such  faulty  analysis  of  the  causes  from 
which  it  proceeds,  that  it  has  come  to  be  regarded 
as  a  sort  of  poetic  license, — a  figure  of  speech  not 
literally  consistent  with  fact,  but  especially  designed 
to  express  chagrin  or  dissatisfaction.  Yet  the  first 
lesson  you  will  learn  upon  entering  political  life  will 
probably  be  the  utter  helplessness  of  the  individual 
citizen.  He  is  like  the  untrained  child,  cast  into  the 
water  which  he  has  not  yet  learned  to  make  the  in- 
strument of  safety  and  delight.  The  element  which 
should  be  a  servant  to  buoy  him  safely  up,  becomes, 
instead,  an  enemy  to  strangle  and  overwhelm. 

The  citizen  king  is  not  an  autocrat.  He  can  not 
rule  alone.  Though  the  sovereignty  vested  in  him 
is  absolute,  it  must  be  exercised  jointly  with  that  in- 
hering in  his  fellows ;  though  the  right  is  several,  the 
possession  is  joint.  One  aliquot  part  of  the  aggre- 
gated   sovereignty    is    )'ours,    to   be    exercised    and 

20  233 


234  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

enjoyed  as  you  may  see  fit ;  but  you  can  not  make 
it  effective  so  as  to  sliape  the  common  destiny  except 
by  co-operation  with  your  fellow-citizens.  Whatever 
hinders,  restricts,  or  prevents  this  mutual  co-opera- 
tion, and  therefore  in  effect  deprives  you  of  your 
inherent  right  to  rule,  takes  away  from  you  what 
really  distinguishes  the  freeman  from  the  slave. 

You  will  soon  learn,  perhaps  you  have  already 
learned,  that  though  by  right  a  king,  you  were  prac- 
tically born  to  an  estate  of  slavery.  It  matters  not 
how  wise,  how  brave,  how  strong,  how  noble,  and 
patriotic  you  may  be,  unless  enough  of  your  fellows 
act  with  you  to  make  your  thought  effective,  you 
will  be  as  helpless  as  a  babe,  as  powerless  as  a  slave. 
This  is  sometimes  mistakenly  termed  the  tyranny  of 
the  majority.  Men  of  intense  and  imperious  char- 
acter, finding  themselves  unable  to  make  effective 
their  patriotic  desires,  are  apt  to  assume  that  the 
right  is  of  necessity  with  them,  and  that  popular 
power  and  party  spirit  are  at  fault  for  thwarting  their 
good  intentions. 

Because  of  this  misconception  of  the  true  relation, 
you  will  find  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  most 
intelligent  and  patriotic  of  our  people  bitterly  hostile 
to  that  universal  suffrage  which  has  become  the  rule 
of  our  government.  They  assert  that  it  fosters  po- 
litical corruption  ;  that  ignorance  and  vice  are  the 
natural  enemies  of  good  government ;  that  parties 
and   States    are    controlled  by   manipulation   of   the 


THE  CAPTIVE  KING.  235 

ignorant  and  debased,  who  run  party  caucuses,  and 
compel  the  well-disposed  citizen  to  accept  the  results 
of  their  action.  We  have  already  given  some  con- 
sideration to  this  question ;  but  as  it  concerns  the 
fundamental  principle  of  republican  government,  and 
is  the  invariable  excuse  for  negligence,  and  the  basis 
of  all  morbid  denunciation  of  our  party  system,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  recur  to  it  again.  As  an  ex- 
cuse for  political  inaction,  the  claim  that  the  "igno- 
rant and  the  depraved  masses  "  neutralize  the  power, 
paralyze  the  beneficent  energies,  and  thwart  the  pa- 
triotic purposes  of  the  wise  and  virtuous  among  our 
people,  and  that  they  ought  not  therefore  to  be  al- 
lowed to  exercise  the  power  of  the  ballot,  is  not  only 
absurd,  but  cowardly  and  unjust  in  the  extreme. 

Vice  and  ignorance  are  in  the  minority  with  us. 
In  the  States  of  the  North  the  average  of  illiteracy  is 
less  than  five  in  a  hundred,  and  in  any  one  of  them 
the  proportion  of  ignorance  is  so  small  that  even  a 
coward  should  be  ashamed  to  make  it  an  excuse  for 
evil,  being  at  the  worst  less  than  twelve  in  a  hun- 
dred. In  the  South  the  proportion  is  much  greater, 
averaging  thirty-six  per  cent,  and  in  South  Carolina 
climbing  up  to  fifty  five  per  cent.  This,  however,  is 
of  little  moment,  as  in  several  of  those  States  only 
about  one  in  ten  of  the  population,  or  about  half  of 
the  usual  percentage  of  voters,  wield  the  elective 
franchise,  even  in  a  Presidential  year,  and  an  inspec- 
tion of  the  vote   shows   that  it  is  the  more  ignorant 


236  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

portion  of  the  population  who  thus  neglect  the  exer- 
cise of  their  ballotorial  right.  This,  therefore,  elimi- 
nates ignorance  as  a  political  factor  in  those  States. 
They  are  all  controlled  by  the  class  which  boasts  of 
its  "wealth  and  intelligence,"  which  is,  consequently, 
directly  and  admittedly  responsible  for  their  political 
condition. 

To  include  the  illiteracy  of  the  South  in  estimates 
designed  to  justify  the  growing  sentiment  in  favor  of 
the  disfranchisement  of  ignorance,  lest  it  should  over- 
whelm the  power  of  intelligence,  is  a  proposition  too 
absurd  to  be  soberly  considered.  A  people  of  seven 
millions,  who  in  two  States  greatly  outnumber  the 
whites,  and  in  two  others  are  at  least  equal  to  them 
in  number,  yet  are  able  to  choose  in  all  hardly  sev- 
enty of  their  fellows  to  any  office  whatever,  and  not 
one  to  a  position  of  any  impoiiance,  however  great  the 
proportion  of  ignorance  among  them,  can  not  reason- 
ably be  held  to  exert  any  appreciable  influence  upon 
the  political  situation. 

It  is  folly,  therefore,  to  speak  of  the  detrimental 
power  of  the  ignorant  masses  in  the  United  States, 
or  in  any  State  of  the  Union.  In  fact,  there  are  no 
"ignorant  masses."  The  ruling  masses  are  intelli- 
gent. Even  if  it  were  otherwise,  intelligence  ought 
to  be  ashamed  to  prate  about  the  power  of  ignorance. 
If  "knowledge  is  power,"  intelligence  should  be 
stronger,  man  for  man,  than  ignorance ;  and  if  it  does 
not  strengthen,  we  ought  at  least  to  stop  boasting  of 


THE  CAPTIVE  KING.  237 

its  possession.  It  is  not  the  strength  of  the  "igno- 
rant masses,"  nor  the  viciousness  of  an  ignorant 
minority,  that  shrouds  the  future  of  the  Republic 
with  apprehension,  and  makes  the  citizen-king  a 
helpless  captive  from  the  first,  but  the  general  neglect 
of  the  more  important  political  functions  by  the  intel- 
ligent masses,  and  an  almost  universally  debauched 
conscience  in  regard  to  political  affairs.  We  talk  and 
act  as  if  there  were  no  such  thing  as  an  obligation  to 
do  right,  nor  any  reason  why  we  should  not  do 
wrong,  in  matters  affecting  the  public  welfare. 

But  even  if  this  bugbear  of  "the  ignorant  and 
vicious  masses"  were  a  veritable  fact,  their  exclusion 
from  the  rights  of  the  citizen  would  be  an  act  of 
such  gross  injustice  as  to  be  unfit  to  be  considered 
as  a  remedy.  The  whole  theory  of  republican  gov- 
ernment is  based  on  the  idea  that  the  distribution  of 
the  sovereign  power  enables  every  man  to  do  some- 
thing toward  securing  his  own  rights  and  remedying 
his  own  wrongs,  or  what  he  conceives  to  be  his 
rights  or  believes  to  be  his  wrongs.  It  is  a  piece  of 
protective  armor,  intended  to  equalize  the  weak  with 
the  strong.  It  is  always  the  poor,  the  weak,  and 
the  ignorant  who  are  the  victims  of  oppression.  To 
such  the  ballot  is  at  once  a  sword  and  a  shield.  The 
untrained  soldier  may  injure  his  friend  as  often  as 
his  foe,  or  even  hurt  himself  oftener  still,  with  this 
weapon  of  celestial  temper,  but  he  will  at  least  be 
able  to  defend  himself  from  attack  therewith,      ' '  She 


238  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

hath  given  more  than  they  all "  was  said  of  the 
widow's  mite,  and  the  ballot  is  the  only  weapon  with 
which  poverty  and  ignorance  may  even  blindly  defend 
themselves.  It  is  their  only  hope.  Unfortunately, 
intelligence  does  not  always  imply  righteousness  or 
justice ;  and  even  against  the  best,  the  lowest  and 
meanest  of  every  land  need  always  to  stand  upon 
their  guard. 

In  avoidance  of  the  self  evident  absurdity  of  this 
claim  that  ignorance  and  poverty  are  responsible  for 
misgovernment,  it  is  usually  alleged  that  our  political 
ills  are  chiefly  confined  to  the  great  centers  of  popu- 
lation, where  ignorance,  vice,  and  an  unassimilated 
foreign  element  chiefly  abound.  Even  here  the  rea- 
son does  not  hold  good.  In  our  greatest  commercial 
metropolis  the  proportion  of  native  to  foreign  is  as 
three  to  two,  and  the  ratio  of  illiteracy  is  less  than 
prevails  among  the  whites  of  the  most  intelligent 
Southern  States.  If  her  best  citizens  were  as  active 
in  the  support  of  good  government  and  the  right,  as 
her  bad  ones  are  in  promoting  evil,  the  city  of  New 
York  would  be  well  enough  governed.  Ignorance 
and  vice  are  weak  before  intelligence  and  virtue  in  a 
republic,  if  intelligence  and  virtue  are  awake  and  will 
do  the  work  that  confrcjiits  them  instead  of  intrusting 
it  to  hired  proxies. 

It  is  true  that  the  results  of  the  corruption  of  the 
sovereign  power  are  usually  most  notable  in  the  great 
cities.     This   is  simply  because  in  them  is  found  the 


THE  CAPTIVE  KING.  239 

best  opportunity  for  peculation ;  and  the  wrong 
which  touches  the  purse  is  always  felt  much  more 
keenly  than  that  which  affects  only  the  person.  The 
"boss"  may  be  more  notorious  in  the  city  and  his 
achievements  more  startling,  but  political  demoraliza- 
tion is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  haunts  of  trade. 
The  "boss,"  who  is  only  a  leader  wielding  the 
power  of  a  greater  or  less  body  of  subservient  citi- 
zens for  personal  advantage,  and  the  "ring,"  which 
is  only  a  body  of  subordinate  leaders  who  co-operate 
with  him  in  the  exercise  of  this  power,  flourish 
equally  well  in  rural  or  suburban  regions.  It  re- 
quires neither  poverty  nor  vice  for  their  support, 
since  intelligence  and  morality  are  not  unfrequently 
their  most  subservient  instruments. 

An  incident  which  has  come  under  my  observa- 
tion since  my  last  letter  was  written,  most  forcibly 
illustrates  this  fact.  The  following  paragraph  in  a 
newspaper,  the  other  day,  attracted  no  attention  and 
provoked  no  comment,  being  a  mere  record  of  an 
event  not  at  all  extraordinary  or  unusual: 

"At  the  Republican  caucus  in  the  town  of  J , 

it  was  voted  that  Mr.  L should   be  allowed  to 

name  all  the  delegates  to  all  the  conventions  in  which  the 
town  is  entitled  to  representation.  " 

The  italics  are  mine.  I  was  interested  in  this 
item,  because  the  town  referred  to  is  situated  in  a 
county  noted  for  its  prosperity  and  the  high  average 
of  intelligence  and  morality  among  its  people.     Its 


240  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

population  is  almost  solidly  American,  there  being 
no  city  of  ten  thousand  inhabitants  within  its  limits, 
and  no  special  segregation  of  what  is  sometimes 
called  "the  laboring  classes "  among  its  people.  In 
all  respects  it  must  be  ranked  very  high  as  a  repre- 
sentative agricultural  American  community.  Yet  for 
a  score  of  years  its  name  has  been  synon)'mous  with 
political  corruption.  It  has  had  its  "bosses"  and 
its  "rings."  It  is  usually  referred  to,  even  in  the 
councils  of  the  party,  to  which  it  gives  a  remarkably 
steady  and  reliable  majority,  with  a  sneer.  The 
party  orator,  when  he  boasts  of  purity  and  reform, 
not  only  passes  by  it  on  the  other  side,  but  holds 
his  nose  with  a  knowing  leer  as  he  does  so.  It  has  not 
many  very  rich  men,  and  few  that  are  very  poor. 

There  the  "boss"  flourishes;  the  office-seeker 
plies  his  trade  successfully,  and  the  professional  dele- 
gate pieces  out  an  honest  income  by  the  favor  of 
anxious  candidates,  or  a  thrifty  sharing  of  the  profits 
of  the  "boss."  The- "  boss  "  himself  is  sometimes 
an  office-broker,  and  sometimes  an  aspirant  for  office. 
It  is  said  that  he  makes  politics  his  "profession." 
It  ought  to  be  said  that  he  makes  office-mongering  a 
business.  Between  times  he  turns  an  honest  penny 
in  the  lobby.  He  is  not  lavish  with  his  money,  but 
pays  the  good  men  who  serve  him  as  pawns  in  his 
various  games,  precisely  what  he  agrees,  if  it  be  cash, 
and  as  little  as  he  can,  if  it  be  favor.  He  is  a  kindly 
man  who  knows  exactly  when  to  "stand  treat,"  and 


THE  CAPTIVE  KING.  24 1 

has  been  known  to  give  something  to  public  enter- 
prises. He  is  not  a  member  of  the  Church,  but 
gives  Hberally  to  the  support  of  the  preached  Word, 
and  is  esteemed  as  a  generous  patron  by  the  congre- 
gation. As  an  aspirant  for  office,  he  has  not  always 
been  successful;  but  as  an  "office-broker"  it  is  be- 
lieved that  he  seldom  "gets  left." 

It  is  said  that  in  a  score  of  years  there  has  never 
been  a  contest  for  a  nomination  in  the  county  or  dis- 
trict in  which  this  man  lives,  that  one  aspirant  or 
another  has  not  paid  roundly  for  his  support.  A 
hundred  times  he  has  thwarted  the  will  and  defied 
the  wrath  of  a  majority  of  his  party.  Indeed,  the 
majority  have  reached  a  point  where  they  no  longer 
expect  to  control.  Politics  has  become  to  them  a 
game  which  they  are  interested  in  watching,  but  in 
which  they  do  not  feel  that  they  really  have  any  im- 
portant part  to  play.  In  every  town  there  is  a  little 
group  of  experienced  manipulators,  who  call  them- 
selves "the  boys."  They  are  usually  past  middle 
age,  and  embrace  a  large  proportion  of  successful 
professional  loafers.  They  meet  and  fix  up  the 
"slate,"  arrange  who  shall  be  chosen  as  delegates, 
and  prepare  the  tickets  for  the  caucus  or  primary. 
The  people  come  together  at  the  appointed  time 
Avithout  previous  consultation  or  preparation,  unaccus- 
tomed, it  may  be,  to  parliamentary  forms  and  pro- 
cedure.   There  are  a  few  motions;  some  quick  tactical 

maneuvers,  and  what  seemed    likely  to  be  a  drawn 

21 


242  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

battle  is  decided.  There  were  perhaps  a  dozen  con- 
testants ;  two  or  three  withdrew ;  there  was  a  motion 
to  make  unanimous,  and  perhaps  that  set  of  dele- 
gates who  had  the  least  support — the  preference  of 
hardly  a  respectable  minority — are  declared  chosen 
by  acclamation  ;  or,  perhaps  a  few  really  good  men — 
honest,  honorable,  and  true — are  put  on  the  ticket, 
with  others  to  neutralize  their  action.  Whatever 
the  result,  it  has  been  done  decently  and  in  order. 
The  people  have  delegated  their  authority  and  chosen 
men  to  choose  or  "trade  "  for  them,  as  the  case  maybe. 
To  understand  how  little  significance  is  attached 
to  such  forms  of  barter,  let  us  return  for  a  moment 
to  the  excerpt  already  given.      What  does  it  mean  ? 

The  Republicans  of  the  town  of  J authorize  Mr. 

L to  name  delegates  to  represent   them  in  the 

county,  senatorial,  and  Assembly  district  conventions. 
These  delegates  will  constitute  one  eleventh  of  a  ma- 
jority in  the  county  convention,  one-twentieth  of  a 
majority  in  the  senatorial  district,  and  one-seventh  of 
a    majority    in    the    Assembly    district    convention. 

Truly  Mr.  L must  be  a  very  good  man,  that  he 

thus  is  given  by  his  neighbors  carte  blanclie  to  exer- 
cise the  governing  function  vested  by  the  law  in  more 
than  a  thousand  voters !  If  he  manages  well  he  will 
be  able  to  make  07ie-scventh  of  an  assemblyman,  one- 
twentieth  of  a  senator,  and  one-elcventli  of  a  judge  and 
other  county  officers!  Even  the  "boss"  himself, 
notorious  as  are  his  moral  infirmities,  has  more  than 


THE  CAPTIVE  KING.  243 

once  been  nominated  by  just  such  methods,  and  may 
choose  to  be  again.  In  that  case  he  will  be  triumph- 
antly returned,  though  not  one  out  of  five  in  his 
party  would  openly  favor  his  selection  for  any  office  ! 

What  makes  such  debasement  of  our  party  system 
possible  ?  Simply  the  fact  that  there  are  too  many 
cases  in  which  men  abrogate  their  rights  in  a  similar 
manner,  and  for  the  same  purpose  as  the  Republicans 

of  the  town  of  J gave  to  Mr.  L the  power  to 

name  delegates  who  would  wield  their  authority. 

Why  did  they  give  Mr.  L this  power?     He 

is  a  rising  young  politician,  and  his  neighbors  sym- 
pathize with  his  aspiration,  and  desire  to  promote  his 
success.  So  they  give  him  their  power  as  a  sort  of 
capital  to  set  him  up  in  business.  He  thinks  he  would 
like  to  go  to  the  Assembly,  but  hardly  expects  the 
nomination.  He  stands  ready,  however,  to  trade  one- 
eleventh  of  a  county  judge,  one-eleventh  of  a  treasurer, 
and  one-twentieth  of  a  senator,  for  six-sevenths  of  a 
majority  in  the  Assembly  district  convention.  Should 
he  succeed,  he  may  nominate  each  of  these  officers 
and  himself  too.  If  so,  you  and  I  will  confirm  these 
trades  at  the  ballot-box  next  November  ;  not  because 
the  candidates  are  our  choice  ;  not  because  a  majority 
of  the  party  prefer  them  ;  but  simply  because  we  are 
slaves — the  slaves  of  a  shrewd,  unscrupulous  trickster, 
who  makes  even  our  sincerity  and  honesty  of  purpose 
an  element  of  his  success  ! 

There  is  no  more  intelligent,  earnest,  or  patriotic 


244  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

community  in  the  land  than  the  town  of  J ,  or 

the  county  of  which  it  is  a  part.  The  people  are  pas- 
sionate lovers  of  liberty,  and  their  political  convictions 
are  a  sort  of  religion.  They  believe  in  their  party  as 
the  chosen  agency  for  the  amelioration  of  evil  and 
the  elevation  of  humanity.  They  are  patriots  of  a 
most  fervid  and  noble  character.  Out  of  this  very 
town  went  forth  a  larger  proportion  of  its  sons  to  do 
battle  for  the  country  and  for  liberty  than  from  any 
other  community  in  the  State — perhaps  any  in  the 
entire  country.  While  they  struck  the  shackles  from 
the  slave's  limbs,  the  fetters  were  forged  for  their 
own,  which  they  have  worn  ever  since.  Their  very 
devotion  to  principle  has  constituted  the  chief  instru- 
ment of  their  enslavement.  They  do  not  neglect 
what  they  deem  their  political  duty.  They  attend  the 
primaries  of  their  party  with  religious  faithfulness. 
Tiiey  are  enslaved  in  the  sacred  name  of  liberty,  and 
serve  all  the  more  submissively,  because  they  believe 
that  by  ignoring  themselves  and  surrendering  their 
own  preferences  they  are  serving  the  cause  of 
humanity  and  promoting  the  general  welfare.  They 
have  a  kindly  feeling  for  their  young  townsman,  and 
do  not  at  all  realize  that,  by  putting  up  their  prerog- 
atives for  sale  for  his  benefit,  they  are  selling  them- 
selves into  bondage  and  furnishing  the  price  with 
which  their  liberties  are  to  be  bought. 

This  is  the  saddest  of  all  our  political  ills,  and  one 
against  which  individual  protest  is  powerless  except 


THE  CAPTIVE  KING.  245 

through  co-operation  of  the  very  ones  whose  misguided 
zeal  has  produced  this  result.  To  offer  opposition  to 
what  is  thus  done  is  to  lay  unhallowed  hands  upon 
the  sacred  ark — the  principles  and  traditions  they  so 
devoutly  revere,  and  which,  indeed,  are  altogether 
worthy  of  their  reverence.  What  has  thus  been  done, 
if  not  well  done,  has  at  least  been  with  their  consent 
and  approval;  and  they  unquestionably  acted  from 
the  best  of  motives. 

What  is  the  remedy?  There  is  but  one — the 
conscience  and  intelligence  of  the  universal  king  must 
be  so  awakened  and  informed  that  he  will  not  him- 
self make  merchandise  of  his  prerogatives,  nor  permit 
others  to  do  so.  Do  not  furnish  opportunity  or 
temptation  to  the  office-monger.  Your  party  organi- 
zation is  the  sword  and  scepter  of  liberty,  only  so 
long  as  the  king  wields  it  hhnself.  He  can  not  give 
it  to  another  and  remain  unharmed  by  its  edge.  Like 
Excalibar,  only  the  master's  hand  can  safely  hold  it. 
Select  always  the  best  men  as  delegates;  change  them 
often ;  never  send  one  man  to  two  conventions  the  same 
year ;  and  if  there  is  even  a  hint  of  bargain  and  sale 
about  the  result  of  his  work,  put  on  him  the  brand 
of  Cain,  and  never  trust  him  again.  But  above  all 
things,  the  simplest  and  most  effective  remedies  are : 

I.  Let  every  primary  and  every  convention  which 
sends  a  delegate  to  another,  express  a  preference  for 
some  aspirant  for  every  office  for  which  the  constituent 
body  is  to  name  a  candidate ;  and  let  this  preference 


246  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

be   certified   in  the  credentials  of   every  delegate  to 
that  body. 

2.  Insist  always  upon  the  election  of  delegates,  not 
as  a  group  or  upon  a  ticket,  but  man  for  man,  and 
let  nominations  be  openly  made  for  the  place  of  first 
delegate,  second  delegate,  and  so  on,  each  being 
chosen  separately. 

3.  Insist  upon  the  ballot  in  the  primary,  and  the 
viva  voce  vote  upon  a  call  of  the  roll  in  all  delegated 
conventions.  This  method  takes  rather  more  time, 
but  makes  it  difficult  for  the  "boss"  to  "get  in  his 
work,"  and  for  the  purchasable  delegate  to  "deliver 
the  goods." 

Of  course,  there  will  always  be  fraud  and  chicane 
in  government  of  any  kind,  because  government  is  a 
human  institution  ;  but  if  you  and  I  are  to  be  made  its 
victims — if  our  liberties  are  to  be  bought  and  sold — 
let  us  at  least  make  the  transaction  as  difficult  and 
undesirable  as  possible.  So  shall  we  save  ourselves 
from  ignominy,  and  the  cause  of  human  liberty  from 
disaster ;  so  shall  the  citizen-king  wisely  rule. 


XX 

THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE. 

I  AM  reminded  that  our  pleasant  intercourse  is 
drawing  to  a  close.  I  have  not  touched  upon  many 
of  those  public  duties  which  you  no  doubt  deem  most 
important,  for  the  reason  that,  although  they  are  by 
no  means  to  be  neglected,  they  shrink  into  comparative 
insignificance  beside  the  political  functions  we  have 
considered.  It  is  true  that  the  king  is  an  administrator 
as  well  as  a  lawgiver,  and  the  citizen-king  can  by  no 
means  be  excused  from  the  discharge  of  this  func- 
tion of  government.  Before  administration,  however, 
comes  law-making ;  and  it  happens,  under  our  system, 
that  the  office  of  the  citizen-king  as  law-maker  and  ad- 
ministrator are  in  the  main  united.  When  you  have 
done  your  duty  in  the  making  of  law,  you  have 
usually  provided  also  for  its  enforcement.  In  other 
words,  we  choose  our  law  making  agents  and  our 
administrative  officials  by  the  same  method,  and 
usually  at  the  same  time.  Both  are  selected  through 
the  operation  of  party  mechanism  ;  and  faithfulness 
in    the   selection  of  the   one   implies   faithfulness   in 

the  choice  of  the  other.     You  will  perceive,  therefore, 

247 


248  LEISTERS  TO  A  KING. 

that  the  subjects  discussed  embrace  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  safe  and  effectual  exercise  of  sover- 
eign power  by  the  vast  body  of  co-ordinate  rulers. 

In  these  letters  I  have  purposely  avoided  the 
consideration  of  what  are  termed  political  questions. 
Free  trade,  State  rights,  the  limitation  or  extension 
of  national  authority, — all  these  have  had  no  place  in 
our  discussion,  because  their  determination  one  way 
or  the  other  is  a  mere  result  of  the  exercise  of  the 
power  we  have  been  considering.  There  are,  how- 
ever, two  matters  outside  the  field  of  political  action 
which  I  wish  to  call  to  your  attention  before  closing 
this  series.  The  first  of  these  is  the  fact  that  the 
prime  object  of  government  is  not  economj^  nor  is 
cheapness  of  administration  its  highest  excellence. 
Money  is  not  the  mainspring  of  national  life,  and  the 
citizen-king,  whether  acting  in  an  individual  or  official 
capacity,  is  not  fulfilling  his  highest  function  when 
he  acts  as  a  mere  accumulator  of  treasure. 

Economy  or  acquisition,  as  the  adjunct  of  a  noble 
purpose,  is  a  most  worthy  attribute ;  as  an  end, 
either  in  individuals  or  nations,  it  is  most  despicable. 
The  so-called  science  of  political  economy  is  respon- 
sible for  not  a  little  foolish  and  criminal  neglect  of 
duty  on  the  part  of  our  people.  I  say  so-called 
science,  because  political  economy  can  never  become 
a  science  in  the  ordinary  and  true  sense  of  the 
term ;  that  is,  it  can  never  offer  specific  formulae  by 
which   particular  results  may  be  invariably  attained. 


THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE.  249 

It  is  at  best  merely  a  collection  of  analogies  more 
or  less  perfect — studies  in  the  lives  of  nations — ex- 
periments, only  part  of  the  conditions  of  which  are 
known,  and  only  a  few  of  which  can  ever  be  repro- 
duced. Self-confident  sciolists  have  sought  to  advance 
this  most  interesting  and  useful  study  of  ever-vary- 
ing conditions,  to  the  rank  of  a  positive  science, — the 
science  of  government.  Such  a  science  is  manifestly 
impossible.  It  would  be  like  a  science  of  life  ;  for 
government  is,  after  all,  only  the  regulation  of  segre- 
gated lives.  The  conditions  of  such  segregated  life 
vary  as  infinitely  as  the  conditions  of  individual  suc- 
cess. In  the  first  place,  peoples  differ  in  their 
motives,  characters,  and  sentiments  just  as  greatly 
as  individuals.  What  might  be  a  sound  and  effective 
method  of  organization,  administration,  or  revenue 
with  one  people  would  be  absolutely  ruinous  to 
another ;  just  as  in  private  life  one  man  acts  upon 
one  principle,  and  another  upon  its  converse,  and 
yet  both  succeed. 

"I  owe  my  success,"  says  one  man,  "to  the 
fact  that  I  never  borrowed  a  dollar."  Another  de- 
clares, "I  should  never  have  been  worth  a  pinch  of 
salt  had  I  not  begun  by  getting  hopelessly  in  debt." 
"No  man  succeeds,"  said  one  of  the  richest  of 
Americans,  "who  does  not  take  chances  which 
would  wipe  him  out  if  his  calculation  should  happen 
to  fail."  "I  should  have  been  cleaned  out  a  dozen 
times,"  said  a  great  speculator,   "  if  those  who  were 


250  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

playing  against  me  had  known  the  weakness  of  my 
hand." 

So,  one  political  economist  arrives  at  the  con- 
clusion that  a  nation  should  never  emit  bills  of  credit ; 
another,  that  it  should  lev)-  duties  on  imports  in 
order  to  encourage  domestic  manufacture  ;  another, 
that  the  collective  good  demands  that  the  individual 
be  allowed  to  buy  his  wares  in  the  cheapest  market. 
One  instances  England  with  her  five  millions  of 
paupers,  and  the  Irish  land  question  impending,  as  an 
example  of  unquestionable  prosperity.  Another 
cites  France,  with  her  infinite  subdivision  of  land  as 
exemplifying  the  true  philosophy  of  national  wealth. 
One  proceeds  upon  one  hypothesis,  and  another  upon 
its  converse. 

"It  is  an  undeniable  fact,"  says  a  great  author- 
ity on  political  economy,  "that  the  richest  portions 
of  all  new  countries  are  first  settled."  This  asser- 
tion he  makes  an  important  postulate  in  his  specu- 
lations in  regard  to  land,  on  which  his  economic  theory 
is  mainly  based.  The  simple  fact  is,  that  the  "assump- 
tion is  not  true.  The  land  which  is  first  settled  may 
be  either  that  which  is  most  easily  tilled ;  that  which 
is  most  easily  defended  ;  that  which  is  supposed  to  be 
the  most  healthful ;  that  which  is  most  easily  ac- 
cessible from  the  sea,  or  even  that  which  has  no 
merit  at  all  except  mere  contiguity  to  the  land  of 
origin.  A  similar  uncertainty  pervades  all  the  de- 
ductions of  political  economists,  and,  indeed,   of  all 


THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE.  25  I 

scientists  whose  theories  are  dependent  on  the  action 
of  men  or  masses  for  their  exempHfication. 

The  identity  of  human  nature  is  a  principle  so 
little  understood  and  of  so  subtle  a  character,  that  its 
application  almost  as  often  leads  to  error  as  to  correct 
results.  Theoretically,  it  may  be  true  that  human 
nature  is  always  the  same — that  is,  that  under  like 
conditions  every  one  would  do  the  same  thing — but 
in  order  to  make  this  assertion  true,  the  antecedent 
conditions,  and  even  the  heritable  attributes  of  the 
individual  or  communities  we  desire  to  compare, 
must  be  identical.  The  course  that  one  man  or  peo- 
ple would  adopt,  another,  under  like  conditions, 
merely  because  of  inherited  differences,  would  spurn. 
What  would  impel  one  to  fight  to  the  bitter  end, 
would  induce  another  to  surrender  unconditionally. 
What  would  inspire  one  people  to  superhuman  exer- 
tion would  overwhelm  another  with  hopeless  despair. 
The  same  is  true  of  all  sciences  or  pretended  sciences 
in  which  human  attributes  constitute  a  chief  element 
on  which  deductions  are  based. 

It  is  evident  to  every  one  that  there  can  be  no 
such  thing  as  a  science  of  trade  ;  that  is,  a  system  of 
fixed  and  invariable  rules,  the  observance  of  which 
will  insure  financial  success,  and  the  violation  of  which 
will  insure  failure.  So,  too,  there  can  never  be  a 
science  of  war.  The  curious  attempts  that  have  been 
made  to  prescribe  rules  to  control  the  movements  of 
armies  and   the   conduct  of  warfare,  which  compose 


252  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

the   science  of  strategy,  are   simply  obvious  truths, 
applying  only  to  specific  conditions  known  to  both 
contestants.      If  its  assumptions  were  ever  true,  war 
would  be  merely  a  game  of  chess,  instead  of  being, 
as  it  always  is,  a  game  of  chance,  in  which  one  man's 
audacity   and   genius,  or   one   army's   confidence   or 
fortitude,  may  change  defeat  into  victory,  and  reverse 
the  most  imperative  rules.     The  movement  of  Jack- 
son  to  the   rear  of  the  Federal  right  at  Chancellors- 
ville  was  in  defiance  of  the  most  positive  precepts  of 
strategic  science ;    but  he  knew  his  men,  guessed  the 
morale  of  his  army,  and,  but   for  the  misfortune  of 
death,  would  no  doubt  have  destroyed  the  army  he 
so  effectually  repulsed.     So,  too,  with    Grant's   mar- 
velous  campaign   below  Vicksburg.     Take  Sheridan 
out  of  Winchester,  and   you   have   a   Federal  rout. 
The  battles  of  the  world,  in  short,  have  rarely  been 
won  by  science,  but  generally  by  a  correct  estimate 
of  the   quahties  of  masses  and    individuals.     Some- 
times the  general  wins  by  brilliant  combinations,  but 
more  frequently  by  an  instinctive  appreciation  of  the 
spirit  and  capacity  of  his  soldiery.     When  Fabius  had 
accustomed  his  men   to   success   he   could  afford  to 
fight,  and  not  till  then. 

It  is  this  principle  that  makes  the  spirit,  charac- 
ter, and  sentiment  of  a  people,  the  most  important 
element  of  all  political  movements  and  economic 
theories.  That  economic  system  which  is  the  best 
for  one  people  may  be  ruinous  to  another,  and  that 


,      THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE.  253 

administrative  method  which  the  experience  of  one 
people  approves,  may  be  destructive  to  the  pros- 
perity of  another.  Institutions  must  be  adapted  to 
the  genius  of  the  people  who  are  to  be  affected  by 
them,  and  the  sentiment  of  national  pride — the  esprit 
of  a  distinctive  nationality — is,  especially  in  a  repub- 
lic, by  far  the  most  important  of  all  the  attributes  of 
the  citizen.  This  sentiment  is  sometimes  ludicrous 
in  its  manifestations,  but  the  lack  of  it  is  of  all  things 
most  dangerous  to  national  harmony  and  strength. 
The  glory  of  France  was  the  chief  element  of  Napo- 
leon's military  success.  His  genius  consisted  not 
merely  in  the  power  to  make  brilliant  and  successful 
military  combinations,  but  in  the  ability  to  intoxicate 
the  soldiers  and  people  of  the  republic  and  the  em- 
pire with  a  self  forgetful  frenzy  for  the  glory  of  la 
belle  France.  The  power  and  prosperity  of  England 
depend  more  than  all  things  else  upon  the  unaltera- 
ble conviction  in  the  mind  of  every  Englishman  of 
the  superior  excellence  of  her  laws,  her  institutions, 
and  her  people.  The  idea  of  the  Vaterland  lies  at 
the  root  of  German  power,  and  the  patriots  of  Italy 
effected  nothing  until  they  had  created  a  universal 
longing  among  her  people  for  an  Italy  redeemed  and 
free.  This  principle  has  found  a  curious  exemplifica- 
tion in  China,  ancient  and  modern.  The  impregnable 
belief  in  the  super-excellence  of  all  things  Chinese 
has  kept  a  weak  people  from  dissolution  and  absorp- 
tion.    The   Tartar  could-  overcome  their  armies,  but 


254  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

was  in  turn  subjugated  by  their  institutions.      Modern 
civilization,  with  all  its  insidious  agencies,  has  never 
been  able   to   get  a  secure   foothold   in  the   Celestial 
Empire.     Yet,  in  all  things  except  the  supreme  sat- 
isfaction with   which  they  regard   their   own   institu- 
tions, they  are  perhaps  the  weakest  people  on  the  globe. 
The  root  of  national  strength,  therefore,  is  to  be 
found  in   the  sentiment  of  devotion  and  regard  for 
the   national   idea.     With   this  spirit  strongly  devel- 
oped, a  nation  small  in  numbers  and  insignificant  in 
material  resources  may  be  enduring  and   invincible; 
while  without  it  a  people  of  unlimited  resources  and 
numbering   many  millions  will   necessarily  be  weak. 
Of  this  last  proposition,  India  is  the  most  perfect  ex- 
ample   that    could    be    desired.      From    the    earliest 
dawn  of  history  she  has  been  the  victim  of  lesser  but 
compacted    nationalities.      The   barbarous   khans   of 
Central    Asia,  for    ages   ravaged   her  plains;  Greece 
sent  compact  little  phalanxes  to  plunder  her  temples; 
.  France  and  Portugal   conquered  with  a  few  hundred 
soldiers   realms    more    populous  and    extensive  than 
the  entire  empires  who.se  power  their  captains  repre- 
sented; and  now  a  handful  of  Englishmen — less  than 
threescore   thousand  —  hold   in    check   the  aspiration 
and    power  of    two    hundred    and    twenty   millions! 
Why  is  it?     Simply  because   India  has  never  had  a 
central  thought — an  Indian  nationality. 

"  Our  country,  right  or  wrong,"  may  be,  as  it  has 
been  often  declared,  a  despicable  sentiment ;  but  the 


THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE.  255 

belief  that  one  country,  however  wrong,  is  better  than 
any  other,  however  right,  united  with  a  determina- 
tion to  make  her  better  still,  not  on  borrowed  models, 
but  along  her  own  lines,  and  in  harmony  with  her 
own  precedents,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  govern- 
mental stability  and  excellence.  A  government  that 
looks  abroad  for  its  models,  and  seeks  to  conform  its 
civilization  to  the  lines  of  other  developments,  is,  and 
of  necessity  must  always  be,  weak.  A  soldier  can 
never  fight  successfully  in  another  man's  armor. 
David  was  wise  when  he  refused  the  king's  armament, 
and  used  his  own  sling  and  the  smooth  pebbles  from 
the  brook.  The  American  people  never  manifested 
such  incontrovertible  evidence  of  "structural  weak- 
ness "  as  when  their  secretary  of  the  navy  advertised 
abroad  for  designs  for  our  ships  of  war.  God  grant 
that  the  borrowed  bastards  may  never  leave  the  ways 
of  our  navy-yards !  Better  a  thousand  times  that  we 
should  fight  on  rafts  and  canal  boats  than  rely  upon 
another  people's  brain  for  the  models  of  our  ships  of 
war!  It  was  not  such  subserviency  to  foreign  na- 
tions, nor  even  the  excellence  of  her  ships,  that  made 
England  "the  mistress  of  the  sea,"  but  the  spirit 
that  underlay  Nelson's  famous  order,  "England  ex- 
pects every  man  to  do  his  duty." 

As  a  people,  especially  at  the  North,  we  are 
sadly  deficient  in  this  spirit.  Selfdepreciation  is 
our  forte,  shrewdness  our  especial  pride,  and  money 
our  chief  reliance.     In  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  we 


256  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

imported  Belgian  muskets  for  our  soldiers,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  summer  of  1863  that  the  Ameri- 
can repeating  rifle  was  used  in  battle.  E\en  at  the 
close  of  the  war  many  of  our  troops  were  using  the 
worst  arms  in  the  world,  while  our  factories  were  sup- 
plying other  nations  with  the  best.  Instead  of  evolv- 
ing a  system  of  civil  service  adapted  to  our  institu- 
tions, and  suited  to  the  genius  of  our  people,  we 
borrowed  one  from  England,  which  England  herself 
had  but  recently  borrowed  from  China.  Our  modern 
literature  consists  chiefly  in  deprecatory  comparison 
of  American  life  with  the  "sweetness  and  light  "  that 
surrounds  the  beatitudes  of  English  social  and  polit- 
ical existence.  Our  clothes,  our  intonations,  and  our 
aspirations  we  seek  to  form  on  English  models  as  well 
as  our  ships  of  war! 

If  we  boast  of  our  nation  at  all,  it  is  almost  cer- 
tain to  be  of  its  wealth.  Our  Goulds,  our  Vander- 
bilts,  and  the  aggregates  of  the  columns  of  exports 
and  production  in  the  census, — these  are  the  chief 
things  in  which  we  presume  to  compare  ourselves 
proudly  and  exultantly  with  other  nations.  As  a 
concomitant,  if  not  a  result  of  this  spirit,  we  have 
little,  if  any,  pride  in  personally  serving  the  country. 
We  incline  to  regard  politics  as  a  game ;  and  our  in- 
terest in  it  is  too  often  of  the  same  sort  we  have  in 
a  boat-race  or  a  game  of  base-ball.  Our  children 
are  not  consecrated  to  the  service  of  the  country, 
nor  taught  to  do  and    dare — to  attempt  and  achieve 


THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE.       ^  25/ 

for  her  sake.  Nothing  is  sacred  to  our  eyes 
because  it  is  American,  except  our  aggregated 
dividends  and  "the  surplus  in  the  treasury."  Pub- 
lic office  is  neither  "a  public  trust,"  to  be  adnain- 
istered  for  the  public  good,  nor  a  privilege  which  is 
prized  as  a  public  honor  or  an  opportunity  to  serve 
the  nation.  On  the  contrary,  we  generally  look 
upon  official  position  as  merely  an  opportunity  for 
personal  advancement  or  enrichment,  and  a  public 
duty  is  regarded  as  desirable  only  when  it  offers  op- 
portunity for  display  or  emolument. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  duties  of  official 
positions  which  do  not  pay  well  are  seldom  well 
performed  among  us.  I  need  but  instance  in  this 
connection  the  duty  of  the  juror.  No  one  who  will 
sit  in  a  court  in  any  Northern  State  and  listen  to  the 
miserable  subterfuges  that  are  offered  to  enable  the 
best  citizens  to  evade  this  important  but  unpleasant 
duty  will  wonder  at  the  demoralization  of  our  jury 
system,  and  the  scorn  of  law  and  inclination  to  un- 
lawful forms  of  public  violence  which  are  coming  to 
degrade  our  civilization.  No  man  is  glad  to  perform 
such  a  public  service,  but,  on  the  contrary,  seeks  to 
evade  it,  or  at  the  least  hire  a  substitute.  The  same 
is  true  of  all  unpleasant  public  duties,  and  the  act  of 
evading  them,  even  by  falsehood  or  substitution,  is 
considered  honorable.  Twenty-five  years  ago  the 
country  called  her  sons  to  its  defense.  It  was  a 
service  honorable  but  difficult,  and  could  not,  in  the 

22 


258  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

majority  of  cases,  bring  advantage  or  preferment. 
When  they  did  not  respond  readily,  the  country  ap- 
pealed to  conscription,  and  the  conscript  was  allowed 
to  put  in  a  substitute  or  go  himself.  So  creditable  was 
it  deemed  to  avoid  personal  service,  that  twenty 
years  afterwards  (in  1884),  two  out  of  the  four  can- 
didates for  the  Presidency  were  men  who  refused 
to  serve  the  country  when  drafted,  one  of  whom  was 
elected  I 

In  this  respect  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  people 
of  the  South  are  greatly  our  superiors.  They  are 
first  of  all  things  Soiitheni  men,  proud  of  the  fact, 
and  believing  in  the  excellence  and  superiority  of  all 
things  Southern.  They  are,  consequentlj^  anxious 
to  serve  the  public,  by  whose  confidence  they  are 
honored.  After  fifteen  years'  residence  at  the  South, 
six  of  which  were  spent  in  judicial  duty,  offering 
unusual  opportunity  for  observation,  I  feel  justified 
in  saying  that  the  Southern  man  rarely  seeks  release 
from  civic  duty  on  the  plea  of  personal  advantage. 
Public  duty  is,  in  his  eyes,  always  the  most  important 
that  can  devolve  upon  him.  As  a  result,  hardly  an 
instance  can  be  found  of  the  preferment  by  the  people 
of  that  section  of  one  who  refused  or  neglected  to 
support  with  might  and  main  the  Confederate  cause — 
the  cause  which  they  regarded  as  their  cause,  to  up- 
hold which  was  in  itself  an  unmatched  honor.  It  is 
this  attribute  which  has  made  the  people  of  the  South 
revere  their  soldiers  as  heroes,  and   the   lack   of  it 


THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE.  259 

which  has  made  the  people  of  the  North  contemn 
their  defenders  as  paupers. 

No  more  striking  illustration  of  this  could  be  con- 
ceived than  a  series  of  articles  which  have  appeared 
in  one  of  the  journals  in  which  these  letters  have 
been  printed,  simultaneously  with  them.  They  have 
been  an  unexampled  laudation  of  the  motives,  char- 
acter, and  attributes  of  the  Confederate  soldier  and 
a  constant  glorification  of  the  Confederate  cause. 
The  comparison  which  is  instituted  with  the  Federal 
soldier  is  always,  and  in  every  respect,  one  of  sweep- 
ing and  contemptuous  disparagement.  The  Southern 
soldiers,  we  are  shown,  were  altogether  the  grandest, 
bravest,  holiest  men  that  ever  rallied  to  the  support 
of  a  glorious  idea.  They  were  "champions  of  lib- 
erty," "Christian  heroes,"  "the  most  devoted  and 
accomphshed  of  knights."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Federals  —  the  people  of  the  North  —  were  "mer- 
cenaries," "cruel,"  "barbarous,"  the  "instigators 
of  an  unholy  war,"  "fanatics,"  and  "dupes  of  am- 
bitious and  unscrupulous  politicians!" 

I  do  not  refer  to  these  papers  to  refute  their  ideas 
or  deprecate  their  publication.  Personally,  I  dissent 
from  their  conclusions  and  question  their  premises. 
I  do  not  believe  the  Southern  soldier  was  any  more 
addicted  to  piety  than  his  Northern  compeer;  that 
the  Southern  general  was  any  better  gentleman  or 
any  purer  Christian  than  the  Northern  leader ;  that 
there  was  any  more  profanity  or  vice  of  any  sort  in 


26o  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

the  Northern  than  in  the  Southern  camps;  or  that 
intemperance  was  any  less  frequent  among  men  or 
officers,  unless  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  intoxicants 
may  have  produced  such  result ;  though  any  one 
who  ever  tasted  the  "persimmon  whisky,"  to  be 
found  in  that  region  in  those  days,  may  well  wonder 
that  it  did  not  prove  an  effective  antidote  for  intem- 
perance. The  muster-rolls  of  the  two  armies  show 
that  the  average  of  intelligence,  as  attested  by  the 
power  to  sign  their  names,  was  many  times  greater 
with  the  Northern  than  with  the  Southern  soldier, 
and  the  spectacle  of  a  ghastly  slaughter  of  men  ex- 
ecuted for  adhesion  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
Stales,  brings  to  mind  the  fact  that  notwithstanding 
the  Southern  soldiers  were  such  paragons,  there  were 
at  least  a  hundred  times  more  desertions  to  the  enemy 
and  many  times  as  many  executed  for  cowardice  and 
desertion,  as  of  the  abandoned  and  depraved  creatures 
found  in  the  Northern  camps.  I  remember,  too — 
and  there  are  many  who  were  my  companions  in  a 
Southern  military  prison  of  ill-repute,  who  will  recall 
the  fact — that  the  most  brutal  and  cruel  among  the 
subordinate  keepers  was  the  devoted  leader  of  a 
notable  revival  that  took  place  among  the  guards  ! 

I  think  that  the  soldiers  of  both  armies  averaged 
better  than  the  people  they  represented,  "each  after 
his  kind;"  and  I  merely  cite  these  papers  to  show 
the  difference  in  national  or  collective  esprit  of  the 
two  sections.     I  suppose  the  circulation  of  the  journal 


THE  NATIONAL  IMPULSE.  26 1 

in  which  the  papers  referred  to  appear,  is  at  least 
three-fourths  at  the  North  ;  I  should  not  be  surprised 
if  even  a  greater  proportion  of  its  readers  were  found 
there.  Now,  if  any  Southern  paper  should  publish  a 
series  of  articles  contrasting  in  a  like  manner  the 
Northern  and  Southern  soldier,  it  would  have  to  go 
out  of  business  in  less  than  a  month.  Its  subscribers 
would  put  it  in  the  fire  with  the  tongs.  What  is  the 
reason  ?  Because,  on  one  side  of  the  line,  public 
spirit  means  an  exalted  ideal  of  Southern  worth  and 
excellence.  On  the  other — well,  we  court  deprecia- 
tion and  invite  contemptuous  disregard.  We  happen 
to  be  Americans ;  but  seemingly  we  would  almost  as 
soon,  if  not  a  little  rather,  have  been  anything  else. 
I  do  not  blame,  but  rather  honor,  the  Southern  man 
for  his  devotion  to  the  Confederate  hero.  I  only 
regret  that  a  similar  regard  for  the  public  welfare 
does  not  inspire  the  Northern  man  to  count  the  per- 
formance of  public  duty,  whether  civil  or  military, 
pleasant  or  unpleasant,  profitable  or  unprofitable,  an 
honor ;  and  I  sincerely  trust  that  the  time  may  soon 
come  when  he  who  performs  such  duty  faithfully,  will 
be  honored  as  the  true  American  ideal. 

When  that  time  shall  come,  the  contrast  between 
the  Northern  and  the  Southern  city  upon  election 
day  will  not  be  so  striking  as  it  now  is.  At  present, 
to  their  honor  be  it  said,  you  will  meet  at  the  South 
the  most  prominent  citizens  at  the  polls,  using  their 
influence  for  the  cause  and  party  they  believe  to  be 


262  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

right.  In  a  Northern  city  you  will  find  the  voter's 
booth  surrounded  with  paid  "strikers"  and  hired 
"  manipulaiors ;"  but  the  "good  citizens"  are  too 
busy  to  more  than  put  in  a"  substitute  "  to  do  their 
duty  for  them.  Southern  sentiment  is  in  many  re- 
spects reprehensible  and  dangerous,  but  in  public 
spirit  and  that  faithfulness  to  an  ideal  which  corn- 
mands  respect,  even  from  one  who  disapproves,  they 
may  well  give  a  needed  lesson  to  the  American  who 
desires  to  see  his  country  prosperous,  peaceable,  and 
strong. 

"For  the  sake  of  France,"  murmured  the  hero, 
who  had  fought  her  battles,  as  he  gave  the  signal  for 
his  own  death  which  the  usurper  had  decreed.  "  For 
the  sake  of  my  country,"  should  be  the  watchword 
of  the  citizen  king  as  he  does  his  dut)%  whether 
pleasant  or  unpleasant,  profitable  or  unprofitable,  as 
one  of  the  myriad  controlling  atoms  of  the  Republic, 
"  without  fear,  favor,  or  affection,  reward  or  the  hope 
of  reward,"  as  the  ancient  law  defines  his  duty,  in 
the  most  thankless  post  it  ever  calls  him  to  occupy. 


XXI. 

THE  AMENDMENT  OF  PARTY  AGENCIES. 

There  remain  to  be  considered  some  of  the  sub- 
stitutes which  have  been  devised  for  the  party  agen- 
cies which  we  have  discussed.  One  of  the  most 
singular  of  these,  and  one  which  is  the  most  delusive 
in  its  specious  pretense  of  fairness,  is  what  is  known 
as  tlie  cumulative  method  of  voting.  It  was  intended 
primarily  to  secure  to  a  minority  a  "talking  repre- 
sentation" in  legislative  bodies.  It  has  generally  been 
accepted  as  especially  favoring  individual  action,  and 
giving  expression  to  individual  preference  without 
the  intervention  of  party  agencies.  There  could  not 
be  a  greater  mistake.  Without  party  agencies  and 
systemized  co-operation  among  the  electors,  the  cu- 
mulative method  would  merely  magnify  the  power 
of  the  working  politician.  It  might  possibly  limit 
the  power  of  the  individual  "bosses,"  but  it  would 
materially  increase  their  number,  and  almost  certainly 
preclude  the  assertion  of  the  will  of  the  majority, 
except  in  cases  where  there  was  a  practical  una- 
nimity of  sentiment.  Under  its  operation  the  cabal 
263 


264  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

would    become    the    real    and    almost    impregnable 
source  of  power. 

This  method  consists  merely  in  dividing  the  con- 
stituency into  groups,  which  elect  a  certain  number 
of  representatives  each,  the  system  being  especially 
adapted  for  the  choice  of  members  of  legislative 
bodies.  Every  elector  is  allowed  as  many  votes  as 
there  are  representatives  to  be  chosen  by  the  group 
of  which  he  is  a  part;  and  he  may  cast  them  all  for 
one,  or  one  each  for  the  whole  number.  As,  if  there 
are  three  representatives  to  be  chosen  from  a  district, 
the  voter  may  cast  one  vote  for  three  candidates,  two 
votes  for  one,  and  one  for  another,  or  three  for  one  ; 
so  that  a  minority  numbering  one-third  of  the  elect- 
ors can  always  secure  one  representative.  This  is 
the  theory.  In  practice  it  yields  no  such  results.  By 
splitting  up  the  vote,  individual  aspirants  may  suc- 
ceed in  securing  their  own  election  with  only  an  in- 
significant minority  of  the  votes  cast;  as,  if  there  be 
twelve  candidates  in  the  district  referred  to,  and  those 
having  the  highest  number  of  votes  are  chosen,  it  is 
quite  possible  that  none  of  those  chosen  may  repre- 
sent more  than  a  tenth  of  the  votes.  This  is  neither 
popular  representation,  nor  independent  action.  It 
is  simply  a  bid  for  trickery. 

This  method  may  also  be  taken  advantage  of 
where  organized  parties  exist,  to  give  the  whole  power 
of  a  legislative  body  into  the  hands  of  a  minority. 
This  is  well  illustrated  by  a  plan  which  was  recently 


THE  AMENDMENT  OF  PARTY  AGENCIES.       265 

proposed  by  a  minority,  to  obtain  control  of  a  con- 
stitutional convention  in  the  State  of  New  York.  A 
bill  which  was  before  the  Legislature  to  authorize 
such  a  convention,  provided  for  cumulative  voting, 
was  warmly  supported  by  the  organized  "reformers" 
of  the  State,  and  was  expected  to  become  a  law. 
A  party  so  small  as  not  to  have  a  majority  in  any 
county  of  the  State,  proposed  under  this  system  to 
control  the  action  of  the  convention.  The  plan  was 
this :  in  every  Republican  district  they  were  to  ally 
themselves  with  the  Democrats,  and  secure  a  ma- 
jority of  the  delegates  chosen  by  the  combination. 
This  would  be  no  loss  to  the  Democrats,  and  in  some 
cases  a  gain,  besides  weakening  their  strongest  oppo- 
nent. In  Democratic  districts  this  was  to  be  re- 
versed by  alliance  with  the  Republicans.  Had  the 
bill  become  a  law  and  this  programme  been  carried 
out,  it  seems  probable  that  a  minority,  comprising 
less  than  one  fifth  of  the  voters  of  the  State  would 
have  had  a  clear  majority  in  a  convention  having 
power  to  revise  the  fundamental  law. 

Another  plan  which  has  met  with  a  good  deal  of 
favor  from  political  reformers  is  one  intended  to  do 
away  with  delegate  conventions,  by  having  nomina- 
tions made  directly  by  the  constituents.  This  idea 
has  two  forms:  the  one  known  as  the  "subscription- 
paper"  plan,  and  the  other  the  "primary-election" 
plan.      Both  are  open  to  serious  objections. 

The  plan  of  nomination  by  "subscription  papers," 

23 


266  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

has  not  been  very  widely  adopted  in  this  country. 
It  has  the  merit  of  an  English  flavor,  and  beyond  this 
has  absolutely  nothing  to  commend  it,  as  a  substitute 
for  the  party  convention.  Whenever  it  becomes  nec- 
essary to  run  an  independent  candidate,  as  a  rebuke 
to  improper  methods  or  to  prevent  the  election  of  an 
unfit  candidate,  however,  this  method  is  not  only  a 
very  proper  one,  but  is  almost  the  only  one  that  can 
safely  be  adopted.  When  a  reasonable  number  of 
his  fellow-citizens  in  this  maimer  call  upon  a  man  to 
assume  the  burdens  and  responsibilities  of  candidacy, 
it  becomes  not  only  an  honorable  thing,  but  well- 
nigh  an  imperative  duty  for  him  to  comply. 

As  a  substitute  for  party  nomination,  however, 
this  plan  is  open  to  the  most  serious  objection.  If 
generally  adopted,  it  would  result  not  only  in  an  in- 
finite multiplication  of  candidates,  but  would  also 
afford  one  of  the  most  convenient  and  effective 
methods  for  self  promotion  and  improper  manipula- 
tion. There  is  nothing  easier  than  to  get  a  man  to 
sign  a  paper,  unless  it  be  to  sign  it  for  him.  The 
nomination  by  "subscription-paper"  is  open  to  both 
these  methods  of  abuse.  Men  would  be  induced  to 
sign  such  papers  thoughtlessl)',  in  ignorance  of  their 
character  or  by  corrupt  procurement;  and  in  case  of 
failure  of  these  methods,  wholesale  counterfeiting  of 
signatures  would  be,  and  often  is,  resorted  to.  As  a 
method  of  nomination  it  is  not  only  faulty,  but  is 
the  most  unreliable  and   unsatisfactory  ever  devised. 


THE  AMENDMENT  OF  PARTY  AGENCIES.     267 

The  method  of  nomination  by  ' '  primary  election, " 
which    at   first   sight    seems    to   be   entirely  fair,  and 
certain  if  properly  conducted   to  give  satisfaction,  is 
nevertheless  open    to  serious  objection.     It  has  come 
to  be  common  knowledge  in  American  politics  that 
a    man    may    be    the    prime  favorite    of   a    majority 
of  his  party,  and  yet  be  the  worst  candidate  it  can 
nominate.      While  ninety  per  cent  of  a  party  micrht 
prefer  a  candidate,  the  hostility  of  the  remaining  ten 
per  cent  might  be  so  bitter  as  to  make  his  defeat  a 
certainty  in  case  he  should  be  nominated.     The  work 
of  a  convention  is  not  merely  to  ascertain  the  party 
preference,  but  to  determine  the  force  of  any  hostile 
feeling  which  might  secure  his  defeat,  despite  the  fact 
that  a  majority  heartily  approved  his  candidacy.     The 
first  element  of  a  fit   nomination  is  that  it  shall  not 
only  meet  the  approval  of  a  portion  of  a  party,  but 
shall  also  be   not  unacceptable  to  the  rest  of  them. 
In  nominations  by  primary  election,  this  combination 
of  essential   qualities  is  dropped  from  sight :  the  fa- 
vorite of  a  majority  is  named,  and  the  party  not  unfre- 
quently  suffers  defeat  thereby.     This  fact  is  so  appar- 
ent, that  despite  the  seeming  fairness  and  desirability 
of  this  method  it  has  never  been  generally  adopted. 
This  has  often  been  attributed  by  the  class  known  as 
"professional    reformers"    to    the    machinations    of 
politicians.     It  might  much  more  reasonably  be  cred- 
ited to  the  instinctive  sagacity  of  the  American  peo- 
ple.    The  masses  may  not  be  able  to  give  reasons  for 


268  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

their  conduct,  but  as  a  rule  the  popular  manage- 
ment of  parties  as  political  instrumentalities  has  been 
marked  by  the  most  sagacious  regard  for  success.  It 
is  usually  when  the  power  of  the  politician  has 
usurped  the  functions  of  the  people  that  a  party  has 
met  with  disaster. 

Nothing,  indeed,  proves  the  fitness  of  our  popula- 
tion for  self  government,  more  clearly  than  the  fact 
that  we  have  so  generally  avoided  the  cumbrous, 
impracticable  methods  which  mere  sciolists  have  ad- 
vanced, and  which  the  great  class  who  are  always  on 
the  lookout  for  a  specific  remedy  for  all  political  ills 
have  so  generally  approved  and  advocated.  It  is  said 
that  the  love  of  quackery  is  inherent  in  human  nature. 
Every  one  would  rather  be  cured  by  a  sort  of  mira- 
cle than  in  the  good,  old  fashioned,  everyday  method 
by  which  others  are  healed.  Whether  this  be  true 
or  not,  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  in  the  political 
world  there  is  always  a  demand  for  quack  nostrums — 
specifics  for  all  political  diseases.  In  no  other  branch 
of  human  thought,  perhaps,  do  we  meet  with  so 
many  "crank  notions,"  and  in  none,  certainly,  is  the 
tendency  to  their  adoption  so  strong,  especially  with 
what  are  known  as  cultivated  and  intelligent  people. 
As  a  rule,  it  would  seem  that  our  so-called  political 
philosophers  are  the  most  ignorant  of  what  govern- 
ment is,  and  what  changes  are  practicable  as  well 
as  desirable.  That  our  government  has  been  pe- 
culiarly free  from  absurd  experiments,  but  has  steadily 


THE  AMENDMENT  OF  PARTY  AGENCIES.       269 

and  faithfully  adhered  to  the  old  ways,  adopting  only 
those  simple  and  approved  changes,  which  have  led 
towards  stability  and  prosperity,  is  the  strongest  ar- 
gument the  world  has  ever  known,  in  favor  of  popu- 
lar institutions.  The  fact  which  our  history  abun- 
dantly proves,  that  the  popular  heart  is  much  less 
liable  to  go  astray  in  such  matters  than  the  trained 
and  aristocratic  judgment,  shows  conclusively  that  the 
citizen-king — the  whole  body  of  the  people — is  the 
safest  depository  of  national  power. 

This  truth  is  especially  demonstrated  in  the  result 
of  a  popular  attempt  to  combine  the  advantages  of 
the  delegate  convention  with  the  certainty  of  popular 
preference  secured  by  the  system  of  primar)'  elec- 
tion. This  plan  seems  not  to  have  been  the  in- 
vention of  any  mere  theorist  in  government,  but  a 
practical  attempt  to  combine  the  advantages  of  two 
methods.  It  has  been  adopted  as  a  part  of  the 
organic  law  of  one  party  at  least,  in  parts  of  several 
States,  and  an  attempt  to  make  it  statutory  has  been 
made  in  Illinois.  Who  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
its  invention  I  am  unable  to  learn,  but  it  is  usually 
known  by  the  name  of  the  county  in  Pennsylvania 
where  it  was  first  applied,  as  the  "Crawford  County 
Plan." 

This  "Plan"  has  several  features;  but  the  really 
valuable  one,  and  the  one  in  which  the  invention 
really  consists,  is  the  combination  of  the  delegate 
and  elective  methods  of  nomination.      Briefly  stated, 


2/0  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

this  is  its  essential  feature :  At  ever)'  primary  or 
caucus  called  for  the  election  of  delegates  to  nom- 
inate a  candidate  for  an  office,  or  to  select  delegates 
a  part  of  whose  duty  shall  be  to  name  delegates  to 
another  convention,  a  poll  is  opened,  under  charge 
of  the  officers  of  the  primary,  at  which  every  one 
voting  for  delegates  names  also,  if  he  desires,  his 
own  personal  preference  for  a  nominee  for  each  office 
for  which  one  is  to  be  chosen. 

Thus  when  primaries  choose  delegates  to  a  State 
convention  or  district  convention,  which  is  to  name 
delegates  to  a  national  convention,  a  poll  is  opened 
at  each  primary,  showing  the  popular  preference  of 
the  party  in  the  various  towns  for  Presidential  nom- 
inee. The  ballot  may  indicate  a  first  and  second 
choice,  if  desired.  By  this  means  the  delegates  are 
informed  with  exactitude  of  the  preference  of  their 
own  particular  constituents.  If  there  is  good  reason 
for  declining  to  act  in  accordance  with  this  instruc- 
tion, on  account  of  violent  opposition  to  the  one 
preferred  on  the  part  of  others,  or  if  for  any  other 
reason  he  becomes  unavailable  as  a  candidate,  the 
delegate  is  still  at  liberty  to  act  upon  his  indi- 
vidual judgment.  With  some  amplification  as  to 
certifying  the  result  of  the  poll,  this  system  would 
seem  to  offer  the  only  practicable  method  of  making 
the  voice  of  the  majority  of  a  party  effective  without 
fatally  crippling  that  elastic  discretion  which  has 
made  the  delegate  party  convention  the  most  admi- 


THE  AMENDMENT  OF  PARTY  AGENCIES.     2^1 

rable  instrumentality  ever  devised  by  a  free  people 
for  the  assertion  of  their  political  views. 

There  are  other  more  intricate  and  apparently 
more  scientific  methods  for  limiting  or  abolishing 
either  the  caucus  or  the  delegate  elements  of  our 
party  system.  They  compare  with  this  simple  device 
very  much  as  the  constitution  prepared  for  one  of 
our  American  colonies,  by  the  philosopher  Locke, 
did  with  the  simple  plans  of  political  organization 
adopted  by  the  various  States  after  the  separation 
from  Great  Britain.  The  one  looked  well  on  paper ; 
the  others  have  worked  splendidly  in  practice.  The 
one  was  the  invention  of  a  man ;  the  others  were  the 
outcome  of  many  men's  experience  and  sagacity. 
So  far  as  my  knowledge  of  these  devices  goes,  the 
"  Crawford  County  Plan  "  is  the  only  one  that  seems 
easil)'  adaptable  to  our  present  system,  accomplishes 
a  most  desirable  result,  and  puts  a  truss  upon  the 
delegate  at  the  very  point  at  which  he  most  needs 
trussing,  without  interfering  with  a  due,  proper,  and 
necessary  discretion  vested  in  him  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whole  party.  It  commends  itself  to  every 
thoughtful  mind  and  is  opposed  only  by  those  who 
desire  to  make  use  of  party  organization  for  per- 
sonal rather  than  public  ends.  That  it  will  event- 
ually become  a  universal  attachment  of  our  party 
system,  no  one  who  studies  the  indications  of  the 
present  and  the  needs  of  the  future  can  for  a  moment 
doubt.     To   that   end,    especially,    the    influence    of 


272  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

young  men  who  are  desirous  of  maintaining  good 
government  through  the  extension  of  popular  power 
should  be  steadily  directed.  The  "Crawford  County 
Plan,"  or  its  equivalent,  should  become  a  part  of  the 
organic  law  of  every  party,  and  be  regulated  and 
made  enforcible  by  statute  in  every  State. 


XXII. 

THE  PROMULGATION  OF  THE  EDICT. 

It  will  naturally  be  expected  that  a  work  of  this 
kind  should  say  something  about  the  ballot,  and  the 
safeguards  of  this  palladium  of  our  liberty.  Indeed, 
it  is  probable  that  you  have  been  surprised  that  it 
has  not  been  given  a  more  prominent  place  in  these 
monitory  letters.  Without  any  desire  to  detract 
from  the  reverence  in  Avhich  I  trust  you  hold  this 
visible  instrument  of  the  citizen's  power,  you  will  per- 
mit me  to  say,  that  in  comparison  with  the  subjects 
we  have  treated,  it  is  not  of  first  importance.  If 
the  citizen  has  learned  to  do  his  duty,  has  been 
heedful  of  his  privileges,  jealous  of  his  rights,  and 
earnest  in  his  desire  to  promote  good  government  as 
a  member  of  a  party,  there  is  little  danger  of  his 
going  astray  at  the  ballot-box,  or  permitting  the 
enginery  of  an  election  to  be  used  to  thwart  the  will 
of  the  majority.  To  the  citizen-king  the  ballot-box 
is  merely  the  means  of  promulgating  the  edict  of 
which  the  mechanism  of  party  is  the  shaping  of  the 
substance.  It  compares  in  importance  and  difficulty 
with    the    duties   we    have   been    considering  as   the 

273 


2^4  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

fo'"iTi  of  expression  does  witli  the  eliinination  of  an 
idea — as  the  phrasin^i;  of  the  kind's  command  does 
with  tlie  dcterminaliou  of  its  import. 

Yet  the  formal  expression  of  )'our  will  as  a  citi- 
zen is  a  matter  worth)'  of  most  caicfiil  considera- 
tion. In  this,  as  in  the  matters  alrcad}'  considered, 
the  supreme  aptitude  of  the  American  citizen  for 
self-government  is  readily  discernible.  In  the 
Grecian  republics,  in  whose  citizenship  something  of 
the  same  inborn  talent  for  government  appears,  the 
ballot  seems  to  have  prevailed  as  the  only  reliable 
method  of  takin;^  the  will  of  a  majority,  which,  you 
must  keep  clearl\-  in  mind,  is  the  one  immutable 
safeguard  of  popular  government.  As  a  political 
instrumentality,  however,  the  ballot  had  well-nigh 
disappeared  from  the  earth  until  it  was  revived  by 
the  American  Colonies.  The  mother  country,  to 
which  we  are  apt  to  give  credit  for  every  thing  that  is 
good  in  our  political  institutions,  can  claim  no  merit 
in  this  instance.  The  ballot  is  not  a  British  institu- 
tion. Indeed,  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  have 
been  very  slow  in  adopting  that  instrumentality  which 
was  the  shield  and  cover  of  national  aspiration  in  her 
American  possessions. 

In  most  of  the  American  Colonies  the  ballot  had 
been  adopted  before  the  Revolution.  It  is  probable 
that  the  instinct  of  safety  impelled  those  who  were 
already  planning  resistance  to  the  oppressive  acts  of 
Great  Britian  to  adopt  this  as  a  means  of  individual 


THE  PROMULGATION  OF  THE  EDICT.         2JS 

self-protection.  On  the  organization  of  the  Union 
the  use  of  the  ballot  became  universal  except  in 
certain  States  of  the  South,  and  in  all  but  one  of 
these  the  viva  voce  method  was  long  since  discarded. 
The  experience  of  more  than  a  himdred  }ears  has 
fully  justified  the  wisdom  of  the  fathers  in  selecting 
tlie  secret  ballot  as  the  means  by  which  the  freeman 
should  exercise  his  power.  The  question  has  long 
ceased  to  be  debatable  whether  this  instrumentality 
is  better  than  another ;  and  the  experience  of  the 
world  has  confirmed  the  sagacity  of  the  American 
people.  England  herself,  after  a  hundred  years  of 
struggle,  yielded  to  the  irresistible  demand  of  her 
suffragans,  and  in  1872  placed  in  their  hands  the 
same  instrument  which  secured  our  liberties.  It  was 
a  tardy  but  undeniable  recognition  of  the  political 
capacity  of  the  American  people. 

The  questions  which  are  at  the  present  time  at- 
tracting public  attention  in  connection  with  this  sub- 
ject are  those  looking  to  the  improvement  of  the 
ballotorial  system,  and  the  means  by  which  its  exer- 
cise shall  be  protected  from  debasement  and  corrup- 
tion. The  greater  portion  of  these  are  mechanical, 
and  pertain  either  to  the  form  and  character  of  the 
ticket  used,  or  to  the  method  of  identif}'ing  the 
elector  and  preventing  unauthorized  voting.  Of  the 
latter  character  is  the  now  very  general  method  re- 
quiring an  antecedent  registration  of  the  voter,  by 
which  opportunity  is  given  to   inquire  into  his  resi- 


276  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

dence  and  antecedents.  This  power,  intended  for  the 
purification  of  tlie  ballot-box,  in  some  instances,  how- 
ever, has  been  made  tributary  to  its  debasement.  In 
some  of  the  Southern  States  an  almost  unlimited 
discretion  has  been  vested  in  the  registrar  of  voters, 
for  the  express  purpose,  it  would  seem,  of  being 
used  to  debar  dul}'  qualified  voters  from  the  exercise 
of  the  elective  franchise.  It  is  a  power  that  needs 
to  be  carefully  guarded.  Publicity  is  the  great  cure 
for  crimes  of  this  sort,  and  the  publication  of  full 
hsts  of  voters  in  each  ward  and  precinct  a  sufficient 
time  before  the  election  would  be  the  most  effective 
means  that  could  be  devised  for  preventing  this  kind 
of  fraud. 

As  regards  the  ballot  itself  the  change  has  been 
chiefly  in  form,  with  some  recent  movements  in  the 
direction  of  supplying  the  same  at  public  expense 
and  in  a  particular  manner.  The  ballot  as  originally 
adopted  among  us  was  of  the  most  primitive  character. 
It  might  be  of  any  form  or  size,  written  or  printed 
on  any  kind  of  paper,  and  needed  only  to  contain 
enough  to  express  the  voter's  purpose.  Little  by 
little  all  this  has  has  been  changed.  Almost  every 
State  now  prescribes  the  form  of  the  ballot  and  the 
precise  words  that  must  be  printed  or  written  on 
it.  If  printed,  the  character  of  the  ink  and  paper 
also  is  made  obligatory.  These  changes  have  in  the 
main  been  healthful.  Legislative  bodies,  and  even 
courts,   have   sometimes   made  mere    technical    non- 


THE  PROMULGATION  OF  THE  EDICT.         2/7 

compliance  the   means  of  defeating  the  evident  pur- 
pose of  the  voter  ;  but,  on  the  \Yhole,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  fraud  has  been  greatly   checked  thereby. 
Some  of  the  proposed  reforms  have  not,  however, 
commanded  public    approval,  and  have  either  fallen 
into  disuse    or  remained  altogether  local  in  applica- 
tion; such  as   the    laws  enacted  in    some  States  re- 
quiring   the    ballot    to  be    inclosed  in  an   envelope. 
Somehow    it    has  never  become  popular,    though  it 
would  seem  to  be  a  most   effective  method   of  pre- 
venting ballot-box  stuffing  and  other  kindred  abuses. 
Of  late   an  attempt   has   been    made    in    several 
States  to  introduce  what  is  known  as  the  English  or 
Australian  method.     Despite  the  fact  that   the  Brit- 
ish government  only  adopted  the  ballot  in  the  elec- 
tion of  members  of  Parliament  as  late  as  1872,  that 
they    have  experience   with    it   only   in    connection 
with    an    untrained    class    of   suffragans,   instead  of 
electors  who  have   been  accustomed   for  generations 
to  the  conduct  of  elections,  such  is  the  force  of  the 
Anglican   craze  among  the    self-styled    "better    ele- 
ments "   of   our  life,   that  a  perfect  furor  has  been 
created  among  the  class  of  "  professional  reformers" 
for  the  adoption  of  the  English  improvements  on  the 
ballotorial    system.       Aside   from    the   fact   that   the 
very  brief    experience    of  the    English    government 
with  the   ballot  is  not   favorable  to   the  hypothesis 
that    they    have     greatly    improved    upon     methods 
founded  on  an  experience  of  more  than  a  hundred 


278  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

years,  there  is  also  the  fact  that   the   ballot   in  Eng- 
land is  applied  under  vastly  different  conditions. 

In  the  first  place  it  should  be  noted  that  the  hold- 
ing of  an  election  in  England  is  the  act  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  with  us  it  is  the  act  of  the  people.  In  all 
but  a  few  great  cities  in  this  country  the  people 
really  administer  the  election  laws.  The  poll-holders 
are  officers  of  their  own  choice ;  the  clerks,  chal- 
lengers, and  all  the  machinery  of  the  election  are 
designated  by  the  voters,  are  sworn  and  installed  in 
their  presence,  and  at  no  time  are  allowed  to  forget 
that  they  are  their  servants.  In  the  great  cities, 
perhaps  from  necessity,  this  principle  has  been 
somewhat  relaxed,  but  all  election  officials  must  still 
be  residents  and  electors  in  the  precinct  in  which 
they  are  to  act.  It  is  not  the  abstraction  known  as 
"the  government"  that  takes  a  poll  of  the  electors 
here,  but  the  citizens  who  hold  a  poll  themselves. 
In  fact,  in  most  States  there  is  either  an  express 
provision,  or  else  it  is  held  as  an  unavoidable  infer- 
ence, that  in  case  any  or  all  of  the  designated  of- 
ficials fail  to  appear  or  refuse  to  qnalif)',  the  as- 
sembled electors  may  designate  some  of  their  own 
number,  who,  having  been  duly  qualified,  may  pro- 
ceed to  hold  the  election  and  certify  the  results. 

Thus  far  in  our  history,  departure  from  this  sim- 
ple and  efficient  plan  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
generally  attended  with  markedly  beneficial  results. 
Almost   all  the    glaring    frauds    upon   the    ballot,  in 


THE  PROMULGATION  OF  THE  EDICT.         279 

the  States  of  the  North  at  least,  have  occurred  in  the 
great  cities,  where  the  so-called  election  machinery  is 
supposed  to  be  most  perfect,  and  the  means  for  pre- 
venting fraud  most  complete.  It  is,  in  fact,  another 
proof  that  self-government  can  not  be  effectually  car- 
ried on  by  paid  substitutes  and  a  centrally  organized 
municipal  power  so  far  removed  from  the  people  as 
to  constitute  it,  in  seeming  at  least,  a  foreign  control. 
The  voluntary  co-operation  of  citizens  in  the  admin- 
istration and  enforcement  of  the  lavV  is  the  highest 
and  most  efficient  protection  of  the  ballot-box,  the 
only  real  security  for  the  freedom  and  purity  of  elec- 
tions in  this  country. 

Again,  it  should  be  remembered  that  not  only 
are  a  far  greater  proportion  of  the  English  suffiagans 
dependent  and  illiterate  than  of  our  own  electors,  but 
they  are  also  demoralized  by  the  long-established 
methods  of  intimidation  and  corruption  which  flour- 
ished under  the  viva  voce  system.  The  English  re- 
strictions upon  the  ballot  are,  of  course,  designed  to 
meet  these  conditions  and  relieve  the  voter  from  the 
restraint  of  either  intimidation  or  corruption.  After 
a  careful  inspection  of  elections  in  many  States  and 
a  thorough  study  of  the  facts  established  by  con- 
tested elections  and  other  reliable  data,  I  am  fully 
satisfied  that  these  two  forms  of  debasement  of 
ballotorial  power  are  very  greatly  magnified  in 
the  general  apprehension.  Very  few  people  at  the 
North  vote  knowingly  against  their  own  desires.     I 


28o  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

presAime  this  statement  will  seem  a  startling  one  to 
)'ou,  but  it  is  the  result  of  careful  examination  and 
deliberate  conviction.  I  do  not  doubt  that  a  very 
considerable  number,  in  the  aggregate,  receive  money 
or  favor  of  some  sort,  in  connection  with  the  exercise 
of  this  right;  but  they  are  generally  men  who  would 
either  have  voted  just  as  they  did,  or  have  refrained 
from  voting  at  all  but  for  the  gratuity  received.  So 
too,  there  are  some  instances  in  which  the  employer 
may  coerce  his  dependents;  but,  in  my  opinion,  these 
are  fully  counterbalanced  by  the  cases  of  emplo}'es 
who  are  coerced  or  intimidated  by  their  associates. 
On  the  whole,  I  think  there  are  few  men  at.  the 
North  who  do  not  know  how  they  wish  to  vote,  and 
who  do  not  vote  according  to  their  wishes. 

At  the  South  the  conditions,  so  far  as  the  iUit- 
eracy  and  dependency  of  the  voter  are  concerned, 
are  far  more  nearly  analogous  with  those  of  the  En- 
glish suffragan.  There,  however,  certain  other  con- 
ditions prevail  which  affect  the  exercise  of  the  right 
of  suffrage  unfavorably.  These  are  entirely  local  and 
peculiar.  If  the  fact  of  color  were  obliterated,  the 
problem  of  a  free  ballot  at  the  South  would  soon  be 
solved.  It  is  intelligence  rather  than  ignorance, 
wealth  rather  than  poverty,  that  falsifies  the  popular 
verdict  in  those  States,  distorting  the  forms  of  law 
to  the  suppression  of  the  popular  will,  and  giving  the 
power  of  the  whole  people  into  the  hands  of  a 
minority. 


THE  PROMULGATION  OF  THE  EDICT.         28 1 

The  so-called  English  system  consists  of  the  fol- 
lowing elements :  {a)  The  printing  and  distribution 
of  the  ballots  at  the  public  expense;  {p)  Printing  the 
names  of  all  candidates  upon  one  ticket  and  requiring 
the  voter  to  check  those  for  whom  he  desires  to 
vote ;  {c)  Giving  the  voter  a  ticket  only  on  his  ar- 
rival at  the  polls  and  isolating  him  from  observation 
while  preparing  the  same ;  {d)  Preventing  him  from 
receiving  advice  or  dictation  from  any  except  the 
officers  of  election,  who  may  assist  him  in  preparing 
his  ballot. 

The  first  of  these  provisions  is  undoubtedly  wise; 
so,  too,  some  of  the  others  may  be.  The  isolation 
of  the  voter  from  observation  while  casting  his  ballot, 
it  may  be  well  to  remember,  was  borrowed  by  the 
Australians  from  a  California  law,  adopted  in  Eng- 
land, and  reimported  here  with  a  great  flourish  of 
trumpets  as  the  last  result  of  British  political  wisdom. 
It  is  a  matter  of  grave  doubt  whether  the  other  pro- 
visions are  adapted  to  our  American  methods  and 
necessities.  The  experiment  now  being  tried  in 
Massachusetts  will  be  watched  with  anxiety  by  the 
friends  of  good  government,  who  will  ask  more  than 
one  trial  before  accepting  the  verdict  of  its  promoters 
as  conclusive.  There  is  no  testimony  more  unrelia- 
ble than  that  of  the  "reformer"  who  thinks  he  has 
invented  or  adapted  a  method  for  outwitting  the 
political  tactician  without  requiring  the  citizen  to  con- 
cern himself  about  the  conduct  of  the  election. 

24 


282  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

The  apparent  objections  to  the  remaining  provis- 
ions so  far  as  their  general  appHcation  to  our  condi- 
tions is  concerned,  are : 

I.  Their  cumbrous  character.  The  American  in- 
tellect is  the  great  simplifier.  In  mechanics,  in  edu- 
cation, and  in  politics,  we  have  attained  pre-eminence 
chiefly  by  simplifying  the  methods  of  other  peoples. 
Simplicity  is  the  key-note  of  adaptedness  in  our  po- 
litical methods.  Our  American  system  is  the  per- 
fection of  simplicity.  A  voter  secures  his  ticket; 
goes  to  the  poll;  makes  known  his  identity;  deposits 
his  ballot.  Except  in  case  of  a  challenge,  it  is  all 
over  in  thirty  seconds.  In  England,  where  there 
are  never  more  than  three  or  four  candidates,  from 
which  one  or  two  must  be  selected,  and  only  a  small 
number  of  suffragans,  as  well  as  a  profound  venera- 
tion for  "the  government,"  as  represented  by  the 
officials,  this  objection  may  not  be  a  serious  one. 
But  where,  as  in  a  Presidential  election  in  this  coun- 
try, every  voter  may  have  to  select  and  mark  his 
choice  for  a  dozen  offices,  among  a  hundred,  or,  as 
in  New  York  there  would  be,  two  hundred  candi- 
dates, the  imported  system  would  seem  to  be  alto- 
gether impracticable.  It  is  doubtful  if  a  man  of  or- 
dinary intelligence  could  correctly  check  off  those  he 
desired  to  vote  for  on  such  a  ticket  and  compare  it 
with  one  he  knew  to  be  correct,  in  less  than  ten 
minutes.     This  would  limit  the  capacity  of  a  polling- 


THE  PROMULGATION  OF  THE  EDICT.         283 

place  to  less  than  one  hundred  voters  and  treble  the 
cost  of  an  election. 

2.  The  most  frequent  form  of  fraud  with  us  is 
falsification  of  the  returns.  The  English  system  of- 
fers peculiar  opportunities  for  this.  A  pencil  and 
an  eraser  would  very  soon  make  the  ballots  corre- 
spond with  the  return,  be  it  what  it  might.  Next  to 
the  immediate  destruction  of  the  ballot  provided  for 
by  law  in  some  of  the  Southern  States,  this  would 
seem  to  be  the  best  method  yet  d.evised  for  covering 
up  a  false  return. 

There  are  other  less  important  objections  which 
we  have  not  time  now  to  consider.  So  far  as  an  a 
priori  estimate  of  the  character  of  the  system  can  be 
relied  on,  however,  it  would  seem  altogether  certain 
that  this  so-called  "improvement"  would  prove  to 
be  almost  any  thing  rather  than  a  genuine  reform. 
Mechanical  devices  to  relieve  the  citizen  from  obli- 
gation and  duty  have  proved,  and  are  likely  to 
prove,  no  more  satisfactory  in  connection  with  the 
election  than  with  the  party.  The  interested,  volun- 
tary zvatchf Illness  of  the  citizen  is  the  best  and  cJieapest, 
if  not  indeed  the  only,  reliable  safeguard  of  the  ballot-box  ; 
and  as  in  the  party,  so  at  the  polls,  ive  shall  find  that 
the  neglect  of  the  intelligent,  refined,  and  self  approving 
citizen,  is  far  more  dangerous  than  the  zveakness  of  the 
ignorant  or  the  viciousness  of  the  depraved. 


XXIII. 
THE   PENALTIES  OF  MALFEASANCE. 

It  would  seem  unnecessarj''  to  dwell  upon  this 
subject  after  what  has  been  written  already,  but  there 
are  some  details  of  a  punitory  character  which  it  is 
well,  my  youn^  friend,  that  you  should  consider. 
Of  course,  the  great  universal  penalty  for  political  sin 
of  every  kind  is  bad  government ;  but  the  law  attaches 
specific  punishments  to  particular  acts.  These  laws, 
so  far  as  they  extend,  are  sufficiently  severe  to  pre- 
vent most  of  the  acts  so  prohibited,  were  it  not  for 
the  fact  that  they  are  very  rarely  enforced.  This  is 
chiefly  due  to  two  causes:  (r.)  The  disinclination 
of  the  average  citizen  to  investigate  such  frauds  and 
carry  on  prosecutions  for  such  offenses — in  other 
words,  the  lack  of  a  public  sentiment  which  condemns 
such  acts  and  demands  their  punishment;  (2.)  The 
difficulty,  in  some  cases,  of  securing  convictions, 
both  on  account  of  the  prevailing  sentiment  and 
sometimes  on  account  of  the  character  of  the  laws 
themselves. 

Of  these  we  need  consider  here  but  few  instances : 

The  laws  as^aitist  the  making  of  false  returns  are 
284 


THE  PENALTIES  OF  MALFEASANCE.  285 

usually  severe  enough ;  but  the  proof  is  sometimes 
difficult  and  convictions  rare.  One  of  the  most 
fruitful  causes  of  this  is  the  counting  of  the  ballots 
in  private.  Each  party  should  have  a  right  to  a 
representative,  who  should  be  allowed  to  object 
to  the  counting  of  any  defective  ballot ;  a  record 
should  be  required  to  be  kept  of  all  proceedings 
during  the  count,  and  these  representatives  should 
be  entitled  to  a  copy  of  the  same  as  well  as  have 
a  right  to  be  present  until  the  ballots  are  all 
counted  and  the  returns  made  up.  They  should  also 
have  a  right  to  put  their  own  seals  on  both  ballots 
and  returns. 

The  bribery  of  electors  has  usually  a  sufficient  pen- 
alty attached,  generally  the  same  for  the  briber  and 
the  voter  who  accepts  a  bribe.  The  same  penalty 
should  be  extended  to  bribery  at  a  primary  or  at  a 
convention.  The  person  bribed  should  also  be 
relieved  from  punishment,  if  within  three  months  he 
gives  full  and  complete  information  of  the  matter  to 
the  proper  officers  of  the  law  so  as  to  secure  the 
prosecution  of  the  briber. 

The  English  plan  of  voiding  the  election  and 
making  the  candidate  in  whose  favor  bribery  is  done 
ineligible  for  public  office  for  a  specified  time,  whether 
he  has  actual  knowledge  of  the  briberv  or  not,  is  no 
doubt  the  wisest  and  most  effective  method  of  pre- 
venting the  corruption  of  voters  ever  devised.  It 
makes  both  candidates  and  parties  alert  to  prevent  the 


286  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

very  offense  which  the  same  self-interest  now  inclines 
them  to  allow,  if  they  do  not  commit.  It  is  a  drastic 
measure,  however,  and  for  fear  of  unforeseen  results 
should  first  be  applied  to  limited  constituencies,  mu 
nicipal  and  township  officers,  and  members  of  State 
Legislatures.  After  experience  with  these  it  might 
be  extended,  should  there  be  need,  in  such  form  as 
experience  might  dictate,  to  other  offices.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  decrease  iti  corrupt  practices  in 
England  is  due  moir  to  this  provision  than  to  all  the 
other  features  of  their  election  laws. 

The  punishment  for  illegal  voting  is  usually  too 
severe,  its  very  rigor  tending  to  prevent  both  prose- 
cution and  conviction.  In  this  case,  as  in  some 
others,  a  disagreeable  publicity  is  perhaps  one  of  the 
most  effective  corrective  instrumentalities.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  a  fine,  with  limited  disfranchise- 
ment and  publication  in  an  authorized  black-list, 
would  prove  most  efficient  in  preventing  this  class 
of  crimes.  In  all  such  cases,  large  discretion  as  to 
the  punishment  should  be  vested  in  the  judge  who 
tries  the  case.  The  same  penalties  should  be  ex- 
tended to  illegal  voting  at  the  primary. 

There  is  in  no  State  any  poialty  for  nonfeasance 
of  political  duty.  In  many,  a  man  is  liable  to  punish- 
ment who  neglects  other  civil  duties.  In  some,  a 
failure  to  list  propert}'  for  taxation,  a  refusal  to  serve 
in  the  militia,  a  neglect  to  work  on  the  public  roads, 
and  in  a  few  instances  the  refusal  or  neglect  to  qualify 


THE  PENALTIES  OF  MALFEASANCE.  28/ 

and  act  in  certain  cases  as  public  officers,  after  election 
or  appointment,  is  punishable  as  an  offense  against 
the  law.  Yet  the  most  important  and  harmful  act 
of  non-feasance  of  public  duty  of  which  the  citizen 
can  be  guilty — the  failure  to  exercise  the  governing 
power  vested  in  him  as  one  of  the  co-ordinate  kings 
who  are  responsible  for  tlie  good  government,  safety, 
and  prosperity  of  the  country — is  nowhere  regarded 
as  an  offense  against  the  State. 

It  has  recently  been  suggested — and  the  sugges- 
tion is  well  worthy  of  consideration,  though  I  am  now 
unable  to  give  the  credit  that  is  due  to  its  author — 
that  the  registration  of  voters  should  be  made  uni- 
versal and  that  the  poll-holders  in  each  precinct  be 
required,  within  a  specified  time  after  any  election,  to 
compare  the  tally-sheet  with  the  list  of  legal  voters 
in  the  precinct,  and  certify  to  the  county  clerk  a  list 
of  all  those  who  failed  to  vote  at  said  election ;  that 
the  clerk  be  required  to  mail  notices  to  said  delin- 
quents, and  if  within  a  specified  time  they  fail  to  pre- 
sent a  sufficient  excuse,  their  names,  be  published 
subject  to  a  statutory  fine  of  one  dollar,  and  they  be 
disfranchised  until  such  fine  is  paid.  The  plan  is 
simple,  cheap,  and  would  no  doubt  prove  effectual. 
One  thing  is  certain,  some  means  must  be  found  to 
protect  the  country  from  the  neglect,  as  well  as  the 
malfeasance,  of  the  elector.  The  evilly  disposed  are 
sure  to  exercise  this  privilege,  and  make  their  power 
felt  in  the  government.      It  is  only  the  mtelligcnt  and 


288  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

highly  moral  citizen  ivho  stabs  his  country  by  treasonable 
neglect.  It  is  far  more  reasonable  and  important  that 
a  man  be  punished  for  neglect  to  exercise  his  civil 
power  than  for  avoiding  service  as  a  juror,  exercise 
in  the  militia,  or  the  payment  of  any  tax. 


XXIV. 

"GOOD-BYE,  JOHN." 

With  this  letter  our  pleasant  intercourse  reaches 
its  end.  To  me  it  has  been  especially  agreeable. 
The  spirit  of  the  past  has  been  about  me  as  I  have 
written  —  fragrant  memories  of  the  days  of  your 
father's  prime — and  I  have  urged  you  to  emulate, 
not  his  achievements,  but  the  spirit  that  prompted 
him  to  do  and  dare.  War  is  the  theater  where  brave 
men  suffer  for  the  acts  of  fools.  In  a  republic,  if 
the  citizen  is  wise  enough  and  brave  enough  and 
true  enough  to  do  his  duty,  there  will  never  be  any 
need  for  civil  war.  Do  not  flatter  yourself  that 
such  a  thing  as  physical  strife  will  never  come  again, 
simply  because  slavery  is  extinct,  or  because  we 
are  Americans.  The  fact  that  we  live  in  a  new 
world,  under  new  forms  and  untried  conditions,  in- 
stead of  being  a  guarantee  against  internecine  strife, 
is  in  truth  a  most  significant  admonition  of  its  prob- 
ability. It  is  because  Americans  are  what  they  are 
that  in  your  father's  day  two  hostile  forces  stood  ar- 
rayed again.st  each  other,  hundreds  of  thousands  were 

slain,  millions  of  lives  shattered,  the  choicest  spirits 

25  289 


290  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

of  a  generation  wrecked,  and  billions  of  treasure  de- 
stroyed. There  were  fools  then  who  declared  war  to 
be  impossible,  even  while  the  smoke  of  battle  was 
darkening  the  horizon ;  and  there  are  fools  yet  alive 
who  think  that  it  was  merely  a  political  trick,  and  the 
soldiers  only  the  dupes  of  wily  politicians.  This 
much-abused  term  has  had  to  answer  for  many  sins 
that  really  rest  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  people. 
If  the  citizen  were  oftener  a  king,  and  always  a  pol- 
itician, there  would  be  fewer  "bosses,"  and  never 
such  costly  mistakes  as  that  of  our  great  war.  If 
the  citizen-king  does  his  duty,  the  citizen-soldier  will 
have  to  fight  few  battles. 

What  was  the  war,  which  we  call  Rebellion,  and 
for  which  our  brethren  of  the  South  have  half  a 
dozen  milder  names?  Simply  a  conflict  of  opinion 
between  two  great  peoples,  occupying  distinct  por- 
tions of  our  territory.  In  a  true  and  literal  sense, 
it  was  not  a  civil  war  at  all.  North  of  a  definite 
line,  the  Confederate  cause  had  few  outspoken  allies 
or  real  friends.  There  were  some — alas !  too  many — 
who  were  willing  to  have  the  South  triumph  rather 
than  see  their  old  political  opponents  succeed,  but 
there  were  very  few  who  believed  in  the  righteousness 
of  the  Southern  cause,  or  desired  that  the  end  it 
sought  should  be  accomplished.  South  of  that  line 
there  were  even  fewer — very  many  times  fewer  in  pro- 
portion— who  believed  that  the  nation  had  the  right  to 
compel  the  States  to  remain  in  the  Federal  Union.    For 


''GOOD-BYE,  JOHN."  29 1 

seventy  years  American  thought  had  divided  along 
that  line.  At  each  election  the  battle  of  words  and 
wits  had  been  renewed.  Thirty  years  before — just 
the  life  of  a  generation,  you  will  observe — tins  very 
question  had  reached  the  verge  of  bloody  arbitra- 
ment. Why,  when  we  had  so  narrowly  escaped  from 
war,  did  we  allow  the  peril  to  continue?  Simply  be- 
cause the  American  people  lacked  wisdom.  Had  the 
generation  to  which  your  father's  life  belonged  been 
as  wise  as  it  was  brave,  both  at  the  North  and  at  the 
South,  the  need  of  conflict  and  the  sin  of  slaughter 
would  have  been  unknown  to  them. 

But  these  facts  existed;  both  sides  thought  they 
were  right;  each  believed  with  a  passionate  earnest- 
ness in  the  rights  their  flags  represented.  Each  be- 
lieved so  strenuously  that  they  could  not  think  it 
possible  that  the  other  was  equally  sincere.  Each, 
in  his  own  mind,  fought,  not  for  right  merely,  but 
against  intentional  and  deliberate  injustice  on  the 
part  of  the  other.  When  these  things  coexist,  and 
any  considerable  body  of  American  people  divide  on 
a  given  question,  with  the  idea  firmly  fixed  in  their 
minds  that  they  are  being  wronged  by  another  class 
or  section,  then  there  is  likely  to  be  civil  war;  and 
this  is  all  the  more  likely  because  we  have  already 
had  one  great  domestic  strife. 

It  is  a  foolish  notion  that  the  fact  that  there  has 
been  a  war  precludes  the  probability  of  another,  even 
between  the  same  parties.     The  law  of  human  nature 


292 


LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 


is,  that  a  feud  grows  more  and  more  bitter  until  one 
party  or  the  other  becomes  practically  extinct  or 
shows  itself  possessed  of  overwhelming  strength, 
coupled  with  apparent  readiness  to  fight.  This  is 
true  of  nations  and  factions  as  well  as  of  families 
and  tribes. 

We  are  wont  to  say  that  slavery  was  the  cause, 
and  slavery  is  dead.  Ergo,  there  can  never  be  civil 
war  again  in  America.  Slavery  was  not  the  cause, 
but  the  opportunity.  The  cause  was  a  contrast  of 
beliefs  as  to  the  rights  of  the  people  in  the  two 
parts  of  the  Republic.  Slavery  was  merely  the  thing 
which  these  contrasted  beliefs  affected.  The  golden 
apple  was  not  the  real  cause  of  discord  between  the 
rival  goddesses,  but  the  claim  of  superior  beauty, 
which  each  preferred,  and  which  was  decided  by  the 
dazzled  shepherd's  award.  So  slavery  was  only  the 
thing  about  which  the  difference  of  opinion  arose, 
and  war  followed,  simply  because  the  American  will 
fight  for  what  he  deems  himself  entitled  to  possess, 
if  he  thinks  it  willfully  and  arrogantly  withheld  by 
another.  Then  the  difference  was  sectional — along  a 
dividing  line;  to-morrow  it  may  be  truly  civil,  and 
run  through  every  city  in  the  land. 

The  War  of  Rebellion  came  because  the  citizen- 
kings  of  a  generation  ago  did  not  know,  or,  knowing, 
did  not  wisely  perform  their  duties.  The  holocaust 
which  was  then  offered  to  the  folly  of  the  American 
ruler,  and  which  the  blood  and  courage  of  such  men 


''GOOD-BYE,  JOHN:'  293 

as  your  father  was,  alone  redeemed  us  from,  and 
under  God  "preserved  us  a  nation,"  should  teach 
the  new-born  citizen  whom  today  greets  with  acclaim, 
not  to  vaunt  himself  of  the  absence  of  peril,  but  to 
prepare  himself  to  avoid  it  wisely  if  he  may,  and 
meet  it  bravely  if  he  must.  This  is  the  message 
which  yesterday  brings,  and  which  I  have  sought 
faithfully  to  interpret  to  your  understanding. 

We  have  examined  the  character  of  the  weapon 
the  citizen-king  of  the  past  not  only  used,  but  forged 
for  the  work  he  had  to  perform.  We  have  tried  its 
temper,  noted  the  causes  which  led  to  its  adoption 
and  modification,  called  attention  to  its  excellencies, 
and  have  not  spared  its  defects.  Government,  like 
all  human  institutions,  is  affected  very  largely  by  the 
character  of  the  instrumentalities  it  employs.  A  good 
king  may  be  the  victim  of  bad  agencies,  and  the  first 
work — the  most  important  work,  indeed — of  the  citi- 
zen-king is  to  see  to  it  that  the  machinery  by  which 
his  governing  power  is  to  be  exerted  is  of  the  most 
perfect  character. 

You  would  never  think  of  throwing  away,  or  de- 
nouncing as  worthless,  the  chronometer  that  hangs 
at  your  fob,  if  you  found  that  by  your  neglect  its 
bearings  had  become  rusty  and  its  pinions  clogged 
with  dust.  Neither  would  you  refuse  to  carry  a  stem- 
winder  because  your  grandfather  used  a  key.  On  the 
contrary  you  would  at  once  declare  that  it  was  your 
duty  to  see  that  the  machinery  was  kept  clean,  and 


294 


LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 


that  whatever  would  make  your  time-piece  more 
complete  and  reliable  should  be  added  to  it.  The 
great,  distinctive  feature  of  this  age  is  its  wonderful 
improvement  of  tiie  agencies  by  which  its  labors  are 
accomplished — the  instrumentalities  by  which  results 
are  more  easily,  cheaply,  and  surely  effected.  This  is 
true  in  mechanics,  in  art,  in  commerce,  in  war,  in 
science,  in  morals,  and  in  politics.  Peaceful  measures 
are  taking  the  place  of  the  sword.  Brain  and  elec- 
tricity are  doing  what  only  physical  force  was  once 
relied  upon  to  accomplish.  Compare  Ireland  under 
the  leadership  of  Parnell  with  the  same  country  in  its 
great  struggle  of  ninety  years  ago,  if  you  would 
learn  what  progress  has  been  made  in  political 
methods  and  the  exercise  of  popular  power. 

Shall  Americans,  then,  insist  upon  destroying 
the  great  instrument  our  fathers'  hearts  conceived, 
which  their  wisdom  shaped,  and  their  hands  wielded 
in  so  many  notable  conflicts,  and  with  which  they 
won  so  many  triumphs  for  liberty — shall  we  discard 
our  present  party  system  as  not  only  useless,  but 
harmful?  Would  it  not  be  better  to  remedy  its 
defects,  fit  it  to  serve  our  present  purposes  and 
express  more  perfectly  the  will  of  our  people,  on 
the  general  correctness  and  wisdom  of  which  our 
government  is  founded?  It  is  possible  that  some 
more  perfect  mechanism  than  the  American  party 
system — one  less  liable  to  get  out  of  repair,  more 
easily  amended,  and  more  certain  in  its  results — may 


'^  GOOD-BYE,  JOHNr  2g$ 

some  time  be  devised  as  the  instrumentality  by 
which  popular  government  may  be  carried  on ;  but  it 
is  certain  that  hitherto  no  such  system  has  been 
discovered. 

Let  us  recapitulate,  then,  in  this  last  letter,  what 
may  be  done  to  make  this  agency  more  effectual,  and 
what  must  be  done  to  render  any  form  of  popular 
government  in  which  party  organization  is  possible, 
safe  and  effective. 

We  have  seen  that  the  caucus  or  primary  meeting 
of  the  members  of  the  party,  from  which  the  power 
and  authority  of  its  conventions  are  derived,  is  liable 
to  be  corrupted,  (a)  by  the  exclusion  of  members  en- 
titled to  participate  therein;  (d)  by  the  admission  of 
those  not  qualified  so  to  act ;  (c)  by  improper  exer- 
cise of  power  by  its  officers  in  presiding  over  its  de- 
liberations; (d)  by  falsification  of  its  records;  (e)  by 
calling  it  at  an  obscure  place ;  (/)  by  insufficient  no- 
tice to  the  electors;  (g-)  by  choosing  delegates  by 
groups,  instead  of  one  at  a  time;  {/i)  by  allowing  a 
contested  vote  to  be  decided  by  general  acclaim. 
No  doubt  there  are  many  others,  but  these  have  been 
clearly  developed. 

All  of  tliese  defects  may  in  a  great  degree  be 
remedied  by  statute.  The  time  for  holding  caucuses 
or  primaries  should  be  fixed  either  like  an  election, 
on  a  specific  day  or  within  specific  Hmits,  previous  to 
the  holding  of  the  convention  to  which  it  is  to  send 
delegates,  or  to  the  election    for  which  it  is  to  name 


296  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

candidates.  In  the  same  way,  the  time  for  holding 
conventions  to  make  nominations  should  be  fixed 
within  narrow  limits. 

The  right  to  act  as  members  of  a  party  primary 
or  caucus  should  be  clearly  defined  by  law.  The 
officers  should  be  made  public  officials,  with  pre- 
scribed duties,  and  a  specific  punishment  for  malfea- 
sance. They  should  be  required  to  keep  tally-sheets 
of  all  voters,  be  empowered  to  administer  oaths  like 
judges  of  election,  and  required  to  make  proper 
returns.  Bribery,  intimidation,  and  disturbance  of 
such  meetings  should  be  made  punishable,  as  at  an 
election.  The  right  to  challenge  a  vote  at  the  pri- 
mary should  be  secured,  and  false  swearing  to  secure 
a  ballot  should  be  punishable  as  perjury.  In  all  re- 
spects this  meeting  should  be  protected  with  as  much 
care  as  the  election  which  follows,  being  in  fact  a 
far  more  important  governmental  agency.  What  is 
the  use  of  guarding  the  front  approaches  to  the 
ballot-box  and  leaving  open  the  side  door? 

We  have  seen  that  the  will  of  the  people  is  liable 
to  be  thwarted  by  the  failure  of  delegates  to  perform 
faithfully  and  honestly  their  duty;  in  other  words, 
to  do  the  will  of  their  constituents.  This  may  be 
guarded  against,  partially  at  least,  in  three  ways : 

I.  By  making  bribery  of  a  delegate  a  crime,  as 
well  as  bribery  of  an  elector.  Where  is  the  sense  of 
punishing  an  officer  for  receiving  a  bribe,  who  has 


"  GOOD-BYE,  JOHN."  297 

openly  obtained  his  place  by  bribing  the  delegates  of 
a  convention,  or  the  members  of  a  caucus? 

2.  By  making  any  candidate  who  offers  bribe  of 
money  or  favor  for  a  vote  in  caucus  or  convention, 
ineligible  for  office  upon  conviction. 

3.  By  abolishing  the  secret  ballot  in  all  delegated 
nominating  conventions.  Observe  here  the  distinc- 
tion between  a  delegate  convention  and  a  pri- 
mary caucus.  In  the  latter  it  is  essential  that  the 
secret  ballot  be  preserved,  in  order  to  secure  the  indi- 
vidual in  the  free  exercise  of  his  right ;  while  in  the 
delegate  convention  it  is  equally  important  that  it 
should  be  di.-xarded,  in  order  that  the  constituencies 
may  have  full  opportunity  to  note  how  their  agents 
discharge  the  trust  reposed  in  them. 

The  officers  of  all  political  conventions  should  also 
be  made  qtiasi  public  officials,  be  required,  under 
specific  penalty,  to  preserve  full  records  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, with  tally-sheets  showing  the  votes  of  all 
the  delegates,  open  to  inspection,  and  compelled 
to  furnish  copies  thereof  on  demand  and  tender  of 
reasonable  fees. 

That  greatest  of  all  witty  proverbialists,  "Josh 
Billings,"  aptly  said:  "  Sech  is  the  frailty  of  human 
natur,  that  it  '11  bear  watchin'." 

There  is  no  place  where  human  nature  will  bear 
more  watching,  or  gets  less  of  it,  than  in  a  political 
convention.     As   a   people  we  have  simply  invited 


298  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

our  agents  to  become  venal,  and  our  aspiring  leaders 
to  become  corrupt  and  corrupting  "bosses."  It  is  a 
principle  in  mechanics,  especially  in  bridge-building, 
that  a  truss  placed  at  a  point  of  special  strain  greatly 
increases  the  strength  of  the  material.  No  matter 
how  good  the  material  may  be,  therefore,  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  common  prudence  that  it  be  trussed  at  proper 
intervals.  In  our  political  life,  the  strain  upon  hon- 
esty, integrity,  and  patriotism  occurs  especially  at 
two  points.  The  places  specified  are  the  weakest 
points  in  our  party  system.  They  are  the  places, 
therefore,  at  which  trusses  should  be  applied,  and 
these  trusses  are  of  two  sorts,  moral  and  legal. 

The  moral  truss  is  that  wise  stay  and  strong  sup- 
port of  good  intentions  that  arises  from  unavoidable 
publicity  and  an  imperishable  record.  It  is  the 
watching  which  human  nature  always  needs  and 
common  prudence  dictates.  The  legal  truss  is  that 
which  attaches  the  shame  of  conviction  and  the  peril 
of  punishment  to  the  man  who  betrays  his  trust  or 
tempts  another  to  misuse  his  power.  This  will  not 
only  reduce  the  power  of  the  "boss"  and  the  "ring" 
to  a  minimum,  by  making  their  trade  nefarious  and 
perilous  rather  than  honorable  and  profitable,  but 
will  promote  honesty  and  faithfulness  in  public  of- 
ficers by  discouraging  di.shonesty  and  corruption  in 
aspirants.  Who  can  expect  honesty  or  impartiality 
in  a  judge  who  buys  his  nomination  to  the  bench? 
of  a  legislator,  who  pays  for  the  votes  of  the  constit- 


"GO  OD-B  YE,  JOHN. "  2gg 

uency  he  represents?  of  a  rpeaker,  who  secures  his 
election  by  promising  chairmanships  and  patronage? 
of  any  man,  indeed,  who  is  permitted  or  required  to 
bu\-  place  with  gold  or  favor? 

"  What  have  the  people  of  S got  to  do  with 

my  conduct?"  said  an  irate  legislator,  who  had  been 
charged  with  improper  use  of  the  power  he  held. 
"  They  should  have  nothing  to  say;  I  bought  their 
votes  and  paid  for  them,  and  I  guess  I'  ve  a  right  to  do 
what  I  choose  with  my  own  property." 

The  newspapers  printed  this  as  a  keen  retort,  the 

people  of  S took  it  as  a  good  joke,  and  the  man's 

political  stock  gained  a  decided!}'  upward  tendency 
by  this  bold  defiance  of  public  decency.  Such  men — 
the  men  who  bu)\  the  men  who  sell,  the  men  who 
boast,  and  the  men  who  laugh  at  such  displays  of 
corrupting  craft — all  these  need  trussing,  trussing 
with  the  fear  of  punishment,  trussing  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  a  speedy  public  indignation,  scorn,  and 
dishonor. 

Under  these  circumstances,  my  young  friend, 
what  is  the  duty  of  the  citizen-king  who  has  just  re- 
ceived his  crown  ? 

First  of  all  things,  it  is  your  duty  neither  to  de- 
spise your  father's  example,  depreciate  his  work, 
nor  under-estimate  your  responsibility  or  opportu- 
nity. What  he  was  yesterdaj',  you  must  be  to- 
morrow, or  the  near  future  will  record  retrogression 
rather   than  progress,    and   the  far    future  incurable 


300 


LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 


and  unavoidable  decay.  Remember  that  the  char- 
acter of  a  government,  especially  a  popular  govern- 
ment, never  rises  above  the  level  of  the  people,  and 
never  falls  very  far  below  it.  When  cowards  and 
tricksters  and  thieves  abound,  it  is  always  because 
the  people  are  cowardly,  weak,  or  corrupt.  In  a 
democracy  the  politician  is  always  the  exact  and 
infallible  measure  of  the  morality,  courage,  and  patriot- 
ism of  the  people.  If  he  is  tricky  and  corrupt, 
they  are  either  ignorant  and  weak,  or  base,  cow- 
ardly, and  mercenary.  Not  more  surely  does  seed 
or  .spore  reproduce  its  kind,  than  do  the  people 
reproduce  their  own  character  in  their  public 
representatives. 

"To  my  mind,"  said  the  greatest  general  of  our 
day,  "Thermopylae  was  the  most  wonderful  battle 
in  the  virorld's  history.  There  was  no  strategy  about 
it  that  a  child  would  not  be  sure  to  perceive  ;  nor 
any  tactics  save  what  were  instinctive  with  the  in- 
dividual soldiers.  The  wonderful  thing  about  it  is 
that  a  country  about  as  large  as  one  of  our  counties, 
and  hardly  half  as  populous,  should  have  had  in  it  at 
one  time  three  hundred  such  men  as  stood  there  to 
meet  certain  death  with  Leonidas.  It  is  not  alone 
the  leader  and  the  soldiers  who  are  on  trial  when  the 
battle  is  joined,  but  the  people  who  have  made  them 
what  they  ane." 

But  if  you  are  brave  and  strong  and  willing ;  if 
you  believe  that  the   things  I   have  indicated  should 


"  GOODS  YE,  JOHN:'  3OI 

be  done,  and  ask  how  you  shall  do  your  part,  I 
can  only  answer  that  the  soldier  marches  instinct- 
ively towards  the  sound  of  the  guns.  There  is  and 
always  must  be  in  the  battle  of  liberty — the  conflict 
of  self  government — a  never-ending  struggle,  a  con- 
stant advance  along  the  whole  line.  One  wing  may 
carry  with  a  shout  the  seemingly  impregnable  works 
upon  the  mountain-side ;  the  other  may  be  routed 
in  the  open  plain,  while  injustice  or  corruption  holds 
the  doubly  intrenched  works  in  the  center  against 
many  an  assault ;  but  at  all  events  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, the  duty  of  the  citizen-king  is  to  fight 
the  battle  nearest  him.  Let  his  hand  and  helm  be 
always  seen  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight.  Let  no 
defeat  dishearten  or  discourage !  Be  at  every  caucus, 
if  you  have  to  hire  a  detective  to  find  where  it  is 
held.  Suffer  no  wrong  to  be  done  to  yourself  or 
another  without  protest.  Insist  on  the  ballot  in  the 
caucus  and  the  viva  voce  vote  in  the  convention  of 
delegates.  Make  the  way  of  the  transgressor  hard 
and  the  bed  of  the  "boss  "  thorny.  One  determined 
man  can  make  a  deal  of  trouble  to  the  shrewdest 
"gang"  that  ever  lied  or  stole.  A  hundred  brave 
men  fighting  prudently  for  the  right  are  equal  to  a 
thousand  determined  rascals  who  have  to  cover  up 
their  tracks  and  fight  in  the  dark.  Above  all  things, 
organize  for  opposition  and  protest. 

"I  will  never  vote  for  A.  B.,"  said  a  brave  man 
in  a  State  senatorial  district,  ' '  whoever  may  nomi- 


302  LETTERS  TO  A  KING. 

nate  him,  because  I  believe  him  to  be  unworthy  and 
corrupt." 

He  signed  his  name  to  the  statement ;  presented 
it  to  one  of  his  neighbors,  and  then  to  another, 
until  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  good  men  and 
true  of  his  party  had  signed  it.  Then  he  sent  a 
copy  of  it  to  every  delegate  to  the  convention  that 
was  to  nominate.  The  majority  in  the  district  was 
more  than  a  thousand  ;  the  proposed  candidate  was 
an  all  powerful  "boss"  of  his  party  and  had  two- 
thirds  of  the  delegates  pledged  to  his  support;  but 
neither  he  nor  they  had  the  nerve  to  face  a  hundred 
and  seventy-six  common  men  brave  enough  to  sign 
such  a  protest. 

Insist  always  on  putting  a  moral  and  legal  truss 
on  every  weak  joint  in  your  party,  and  keep  on  in- 
sisting until  it  is  done.  The  American  party  is  not 
only  founded  on,  but  .shaped  and  ruled  from,  the 
hearthstone.  If  the  good  men  and  true,  who  claim 
to  be  Christian  patriots,  as  well  as  law-abiding  citi- 
zens, will  but  do  their  duty,  they  will  be  actual  as 
well  as  potential  kings.  They  will  not  be  content 
with  the  shadow  of  power  but  will  insist  upon  having 
the  substance  also.  They  will  control  and  perfect 
the  machinery  of  their  respective  parties,  and  shape 
with  certainty  the  destiny  of  the  country.  They 
will  not,  indeed,  make  either  party  or  government 
faultless,  because  they  will  not  be  themselves  without 
fault ;    but   they    will   assuredly  keep    both    steadily 

THE  LIBRARY 

UNlVERSiT/  Oi*   CALIFOJIMA 

LOS  AJNO£-UiS 


''GOOD-BYE,  JOHN:'  303 

moving  toward  that  perfection  which  is  the  con- 
stant aim  of  manly  aspiration  and  the  noblest  Chris- 
tian endeavor.  Do  your  duty,  O  newly  crowned  cit- 
izen-king, as  it  comes  to  your  hand  and  reveals  itself 
to  your  heart  and  brain,  and  you  will  thereby  honor 
the  past  and  serve  the  present,  and  make  the  future 
your  debtor  forever. 


Yesterday  is  putting  off  its  armor;  today  is  put- 
ting on  its  crown.  "The  king  is  dead  !  Long  live 
the  king!"  The  history  of  liberty  is  not  one  of 
battles  and  sieges,  of  victories  and  defeats  alone,  but 
one  of  men  wise  enough  to  do,  brave  enough  to  die, 
and  patient  enough  to  wait.  Trusting  that  }'ou  may 
ever  be  worthy  to  be  counted  one  of  her  chosen  sons, 
I  bid  you  "  Hail  and  farewell!" 


THE  END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


tami   FEB2 11367 


MAR27 


I'oifii   1,-0 
2.-,m-2,'43<520;j) 


t967 


M 


AA    000  565  692 

llMI!llf'''IJiHilliH^^ 


